126/7 (20.0)
CR : 6.30
129/9 (20.0)
CR : 6.45
Karnali Yaks won by 3 runs 🏆
Player of the Match
William Bosisto
2/1815(12)
A Mahata 1(1)
Run Out (D Rawat/A Gharti)
4s/6s
0/0
SR
100.00
Over 20
Janakpur Bolts 126/7
Nicol Loftie-Eaton13(9)
Aaditya Mahata1(1)
Nandan Yadav1-23(3.0)
KNY won by 3 runs
6:36 PM IST and 6:51 PM Local Time : The group stage of the NPL 2025 has come to a cracking finish. Karnali Yaks have defeated the Janakpur Bolts by a paltry margin of 3 runs to finish the season on a high.
Janakpur Bolts won the toss and sent Karnali Yaks to bat first. Karnali Yaks' issue was that their batters got the starts but didn't convert it to a big one. Imran Sheikh was the top scorer for them with his 33 from 32 balls hitting a boundary and a maximum. Priyank Panchal (16), Gulshan Jha (19), William Bosisto (15) and Najibullah Zadran (13) failed to score big. It was Sompal Kami whose cameo changed the game. The Yaks' skipper scored 18 from just 11 balls and took his team over 120 and took the score to 129/9 at the end of the 20 overs.
For the Janakpur Bolts, Lalit Rajbanshi and Aaditya Mahata took 2 wickets each. Sangeeth Cooray, Anil Sah and Maaz Sadaqat took a wicket each.
Janakpur Bolts came to chase the 130-run target and got a couple of jolts early as Aasif Sheikh and Anil Sah got out for two ducks. Mark Watt controlled the entire powerplay with his miserly bowling. Mayan Yadav got out for 9 and Maaz Sadaqat became the victim of a horribly wrong decision by the umpire on 12. Bolts were reduced to 29/4 in the 7th over.
Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Sangeeth Cooray then decided to take the innings forward then. They added 75 runs from 60 balls before Cooray got dismissed by Sompal Kami scoring 25 off 32 balls. Sanjay Krishnamurthi smacked three maximums against Dipendra Rawat in the 13th over and took the equation into control. He hit another maximum later and eventually became the only half-centurion of the game. But when he tried to hit Nandan Yadav for a maximum in the first ball of the final over, he found Gulshan Jha in the deep. He top scored for his team with 51 off 39 balls with 1 four and 4 maximums.
The equation was down to 14 off 5. Nicol Loftie-Eaton desperately ran a couple of bye runs in the fourth ball to take the equation down to 9 off 2. Loftie-Eaton reverse swept one off Nandan Yadav for a boundary to bring it down to 5 off 1. In the final ball of the game, he tried to replicate the last boundary shot but found the fielder. Yaks won the game by 3 runs.
William Bosisto picked 2 wickets for just 18 runs. Mark Watt was miserly with his bowling as he finished with 1/9 from his 4 overs. Pawan Sarraf, Nandan Yadav and Sompal Kami took one wicket each.
Janakpur Bolts won the toss and sent Karnali Yaks to bat first. Karnali Yaks' issue was that their batters got the starts but didn't convert it to a big one. Imran Sheikh was the top scorer for them with his 33 from 32 balls hitting a boundary and a maximum. Priyank Panchal (16), Gulshan Jha (19), William Bosisto (15) and Najibullah Zadran (13) failed to score big. It was Sompal Kami whose cameo changed the game. The Yaks' skipper scored 18 from just 11 balls and took his team over 120 and took the score to 129/9 at the end of the 20 overs.
For the Janakpur Bolts, Lalit Rajbanshi and Aaditya Mahata took 2 wickets each. Sangeeth Cooray, Anil Sah and Maaz Sadaqat took a wicket each.
Janakpur Bolts came to chase the 130-run target and got a couple of jolts early as Aasif Sheikh and Anil Sah got out for two ducks. Mark Watt controlled the entire powerplay with his miserly bowling. Mayan Yadav got out for 9 and Maaz Sadaqat became the victim of a horribly wrong decision by the umpire on 12. Bolts were reduced to 29/4 in the 7th over.
Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Sangeeth Cooray then decided to take the innings forward then. They added 75 runs from 60 balls before Cooray got dismissed by Sompal Kami scoring 25 off 32 balls. Sanjay Krishnamurthi smacked three maximums against Dipendra Rawat in the 13th over and took the equation into control. He hit another maximum later and eventually became the only half-centurion of the game. But when he tried to hit Nandan Yadav for a maximum in the first ball of the final over, he found Gulshan Jha in the deep. He top scored for his team with 51 off 39 balls with 1 four and 4 maximums.
The equation was down to 14 off 5. Nicol Loftie-Eaton desperately ran a couple of bye runs in the fourth ball to take the equation down to 9 off 2. Loftie-Eaton reverse swept one off Nandan Yadav for a boundary to bring it down to 5 off 1. In the final ball of the game, he tried to replicate the last boundary shot but found the fielder. Yaks won the game by 3 runs.
William Bosisto picked 2 wickets for just 18 runs. Mark Watt was miserly with his bowling as he finished with 1/9 from his 4 overs. Pawan Sarraf, Nandan Yadav and Sompal Kami took one wicket each.
Time for the post-match presentations.
Player of the Match: William Bosisto
William Bosisto (Player of the Match): "It was an interesting match. Bit topsy-turvy but glad to win the match. I think somewhere we played our best cricket and this is one of our better performances in this season.
On a wicket like that, it is tricky to go down the ground. So I tried to play the sweeps and reverse sweeps. I wanted to build a partnership with Imran. I think I have done reasonably well there.
Yes it was a bit frustrating season. Things didn't go our way. I love this country, the crowd. Love to play in this beautiful ground."
On a wicket like that, it is tricky to go down the ground. So I tried to play the sweeps and reverse sweeps. I wanted to build a partnership with Imran. I think I have done reasonably well there.
Yes it was a bit frustrating season. Things didn't go our way. I love this country, the crowd. Love to play in this beautiful ground."
Sompal Kami (Karnali Yaks Captain): "Whenever we win, it feels good. All the boys put their 100%. Amazing effort. A lot of positives I want to take away from here. I think this is one of the best teams. Unfortunately we didn't qualify.
The team is better than the last year's team. We are pretty happy that the fans are with us and still believe in us."
The team is better than the last year's team. We are pretty happy that the fans are with us and still believe in us."
PHEW! What a fantastic Sunday we had in the NPL! Karnali Yaks eventually kept their nerves and came out victorious by defeating the Janakpur Bolts by a mere margin of 3 runs. After 28 pulsating cricket games in the group stage, NPL 2025/26 is all set to enter the play-off stage. Tomorrow is a rest day but on Tuesday, Sudurpaschim Royals will face Biratnagar Kings in the first qualifier. Do join us for that.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on behalf of the scorer/analyst of this match Rajesh Pal.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on behalf of the scorer/analyst of this match Rajesh Pal.