Sports

Madhesh applied breaks to the continuous slide by defeating Province 1 by 72 runs in the Prime Minister’s National One-Day Cricket Tournament at the Mulpani Cricket Ground on Thursday.

In a Group B match, Madhesh scored 214 runs in 48.1 overs after electing to bat first and restricted Province 1 to 142 in 43.1 overs.

Madhesh had a shaky start, losing opener Santosh Karki for a duck in the first over. Captain Harishankar Shah was also dismissed cheaply at 15, and it soon became 30-3 when Imran Sheikh followed suit.

Anil Sah and Rohan BK stabilised the ship, sharing 68 runs for the fourth wicket.

BK was dismissed after making 28, but Sah went on to score 61 from 89 balls with five fours and one six.

Bibek Yadav and Rupesh Singh contributed 32 and 30 runs, respectively, to take the score past 200.

Province 1’ right arm medium bowler Firdosh Ansari completed a five-wicket haul, bowling 9.1 overs, giving away just 34 runs.

Sidhhant Lohani took three wickets, while Sarwan Yadav and Luv Kamat took one each.

Niraj Mukhiya and Ankit Subedi opened the innings for Province 1. Subedi, who scored a century in his previous innings on Tuesday, was dismissed for a duck.

As wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals, Province 1 were soon reduced to 47-4.

Luv Kamat and Bibek Anand raised a faint hope for Province 1, sharing a 47-run partnership. But that diminished soon as Madhesh bowlers removed both in quick succession.

Any remaining hopes vanished with the dismissal of skipper Siddhant Lohani for a duck. Firdosh Ansari scored 22, Sonu Mandal (11), Dipak Joshi (11) as Province 1 were bowled out in the 43rd over.

Madhesh’s Mohammad Aadil Alam, Rupesh Singh, Pradip Paswan and Bishal Shusling all picked up two wickets each, while Rajesh Yadav took one.