Professional Twenty20 cricket leagues across the world are what’s gripping the cricketing community at the moment and every country has its own premier T20 tournament, if not more than one. In Nepal too, apart from the Dhanghadi Premier League (DPL), the Pokhara Premier League (PPL) is another annual league played with franchise teams representing various cities in the country, with a perfect blend of domestic and international players.
The inaugural PPL Nepal began on 26th October 2018 with 6 franchise teams participating in a round robin stage, which has now ended. The league format is such that the top team in the league stage goes straight to the final while the second and third placed teams will battle it out in a qualifier/eliminator to progress to the final. That’s the stage we’ve arrived at the the moment in the 2018 PPL tournament.
From the original 6 participating teams, Pokhara Paltan, Hulas Kathmandu Royals and Expert Dhangadi all finished at the top of the table with 3 wins from 5 games each. From them, Paltan goes straight into the final with the highest Net Run Rate, while the other two will play what will be a virtual semi-final tomorrow, 4th November, at 8:45am IST. The final will subsequently be played on 6th November at 9:45am IST.
It has been an exciting tournament thus far, with plenty of international stars as well as a lot of Nepal domestic talent coming to the fore. There are a few in particular who have been outstanding. With the bat, India’s Gaurav Tomar (Uttar Pradesh) is shining with 211 runs in his 5 games and a best score of 95, while a half-century earlier today saw Pakistan’s Muhammad Zaid Alam finishing second on the run-scorers list, with 209 runs in his 4 games.
With the ball, it has been all Nepal thus far. All of the top eight players in the highest wicket takers list belonged to Nepal itself, with Karan KC from the Chitwan Rhinos finishing with 10 wickets from 10 games at an unbelievable average of 11.70. Second to him was none other than Sandeep Lamichhane who also had 10 wickets, after recently being picked to play in the Big Bash League. Both however, will not add to their tallies this year, with their respective teams both being eliminated.
Keep reading ReadScoops.com for similar updates on the Pokhara Premier League.
