The last match of the Lumbini Lions in the group stage was against the Janakpur Bolts, which the Lions won by 5 wickets with 5 balls remaining.
The match was full of a low scoring thriller, where Janakpur Bolts won the toss and chose to bat first and were able to make just 132 runs at the end of the first inning.
The bowlers were so prepared that JJ Smit gave the breakthrough to the team in the first over itself with the wicket of Maaz Sadaqat; the other bowlers carried forward with the same intent. Sher Malla took 2 wickets by giving just 20 runs in his spell. Captain Rohit Paudel also helped in the bowling with two wickets and Ruben Trumplemann with one wicket.
While chasing the score of 133, Lumbini Lions lost the wicket of Sumit Maharjan in the first ball itself but the pressure shifted on the Bolts after Rohit Paudel and D’Arcy Short’s 61 run partnership, both of them made 34 and 30 runs respectively. Niroshan Dickwella’s 17, JJ Smit’s 21 and Dilip Nath’s 15 runs helped the team reach the score in the 20th over.
And with this win over Janakpur Bolts the Lumbini Lions made its place in the top 4 and qualified for the playoffs with 8 points from the group stage.
