Janakpur Bolts Beat Pokhara Avengers by 9 Runs — Trit Raj Das's 61 and Moeen Ali's 3 for 13 Hold Off a Late Charge

Totals of 147 can be won or lost in small passages, and Janakpur owe theirs to one batter who stayed. Trit Raj Das made 61 off 55 with seven fours and two sixes, while wickets fell around him and Shakib Al Hasan conceded just 15 from his four overs with three wickets to show for them. Abhisekh Tiwari's 24 not out off 10 late on looks more valuable now than it did at the time, given the final margin was only nine.

Moeen Ali did the holding job with the ball, taking 3 for 13 from four overs with a maiden. He removed Mahedi Hasan and Dinesh Kharel early and returned to bowl Mohammad Saifuddin. Kushal Bhurtel's 35 off 24 was Pokhara's best innings, but when he went at 53 for 3 the chase started to drift. Saif Hassan and Harmeet Singh chipped in through the middle, and at 87 for 7 in the 14th over it looked a formality.

Pokhara's lower order refused to accept that. Bipin Acharya made 20, and Bipin Khatri's unbeaten 17 kept the game alive into the last over, taking them from 87 for 7 to 138 for 9. It was not enough, but the 51 runs added after that collapse show how much had been lost in the middle overs.

We called this a coin-flip at Kirtipur and did not pick a side, and a nine-run finish suggests that was fair. We also expected a fast-paced, boundary-heavy game, which is not what 147 and 138 on this surface turned out to be.

Janakpur move to four points from three matches, second in the table. Pokhara are 0-2 and meet Lumbini Lions on November 3, the same day the Bolts play Biratnagar Kings.