Kathmandu, Mar. 17: Tribhuwan Army Club (TAC) defeated Karnali Province in the final to lift the first edition of the Koshi Province Trophy at Baijanath Cricket Ground in Biratnagar on Saturday.

Undefeated throughout the tournament, Army won against Karnali by nine wickets by chasing the victory target of 111 runs with 46 balls to spare.

Karnali, winning the toss, elected to bat first. However, the team could not post a decent target against 

Army’s bowlers. 

Unable to score enough, Karnali’s top three batsmen prevented an early fall of wickets. Karnali’s opening duo Rabindra Shahi (21 off 31) and Manish Thapa (21 off 17) alongside, in at three, Bipin Rawal (27 off 24) took the team to 75 runs until Rawal departed as the third wicket at the end of the 12th over. 

With only Dinesh Adhikari (12 off 19), in at seven, scoring in double figures for Karnali, the team was bundled out at the final ball of the 20th over for a paltry 110 runs.

Trit Raj Das, Basir Ahamad, Shahab Alam and Sumit Shrestha took two wickets each in the final while Pawan Karki took one. While the bowlers did their job, Army’s batsmen did the rest in the chase. 

Trit Raj Das was the man of the match for Army in the final as he not only took two wickets but scored a match-winning half-century with the bat as well.

Army lost opener Santosh Karki in the fourth over after he contributed 21 off 11; Army was then at 25/1. Then, Trit entered the crease and partnered with Imran Sheikh for the win.

Imran added 38 off 30 and stayed not out with Trit (50 off 33) as the duo chased the target in 12.2 overs.

It was an important final for Army as they lost the Men’s PM Cup 2024 to Nepal Police Club in the final match on February 3, 2024.

Moreover, the departmental teams – Army, Police and APF – were seen struggling in the Koshi Province Trophy without their key players as the majority of them play for the national squad. However, Army showed that the departmental sides are still dominant despite the lack of major players.

Personal bests

Army’s Trit Raj Das was adjudged as the player of the series. Trit was the second-highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in the tournament.

Playing six matches throughout the tournament, Trit scored 199 runs in five innings and took nine wickets in six innings. Lumbini’s Dev Khanal was the highest-scorer of the tournament with 236 runs; he was also the only batsman to score a century 

in the T20 tournament. 

Army’s Nitesh Patel topped wickets’ tally with 10 wickets in five innings. Nitesh was selected as the emerging player of the series.