Nepal’s first domestic competition after gaining ODI status is not an ODI tournament. Hardly surprising as T20 has been the name of the game in Nepal for past couple of years after the suspension of their Cricket Board by ICC and little has come from the government’s side to organise 50-overs or multi-day format competition in the country.
No wonder Dhangadhi Premier League’s 2nd season is one of the most important one’s in Nepal’s history as it will pave the way how domestic tournaments get handled going forward. With Everest Premier League already setting benchmarks, Nepal could very well be one of the rare places where more than one legitimate T20 tournaments take place in a calendar year, and yes, approved by ICC of course.
Six captains with the trophy !! Who will grab this?? #DPL2 pic.twitter.com/Bpu4Bf76YP
— Raman Shiwakoti (@CricketRaman) March 30, 2018
For the first time ever, there is TV coverage from AP1 TV and there is digital coverage as well on iFlix platform. At the end of it all, its the action that matters in the middle that will encourage more Nepal youngsters to take up the sport and also for overseas professionals from other Associate countries, who need a platform to showcase their skills to get opportunities in the bigger T20 leagues.
iflix Studio getting ready to present you #DPL2 Live , Watch it live from tomorrow only on iflix
Here is my team ! Cheers ! https://t.co/LQJGCLMH0Z#RuslanDPL2 pic.twitter.com/vhYfFmWHdO— Bhawana Ghimire (@BhawanaCAN) March 30, 2018
The opener between Kathmandu Goldens and Team Chauraha Dhangadhi was a on-par match with scores in the 140-150 range. Team Chauraha Dhangadhi were without their prime recruit, Rohan Mustafa, who is on his way to Nepal and hopefully, will feature in their next game. TCD managed to post 145/6 which Kathmandu reached by scoring 146/3 in the 19th over to register their first win in the tournament.
Three youngsters took to the center-stage with their performances in the game. Sunil Dhamala scored 68 runs with the bat and then picked up a wicket as well for Team Chauraha Dhangadhi, while DPL got it’s first hat-trick bowler in Shahab Alam, who picked up 3/23 in his 4 overs for Kathmandu Goldens in the first half of the match.
The second half belonged to Amit Shrestha, who remained unbeaten on 81 runs to guide his team to victory. Naresh Budayair (Kathmandu Goldens) and Shankar Rana (Team Chauraha Dhangadhi) were the other local players who impressed with the bat in the match. Samsad Sheikh (Team Chauraha Dhangadhi) is also one of the young players to watch in the tournament as he picked up 3/21 in his 3 overs of left-arm slow orthodox bowling.
Czarsportz DPL 2 Day 1 top 5 domestic players:
Rank # 1 Sunil Dhamala
Rank # 2 Amit Shrestha
Rank # 3 Shahab Alam
Rank # 4 Shankar Rana
Rank # 5 Samsad Sheikh
