EPL: Bista's half century propels Bhairahawa Gladiators to second win KATHMANDU:Bhairahawa Gladiators rode on Puneet Bista's half century to hunt down Lalitpur Patriots by four wickets to register second consecutive triumph of the TVS Everest Premier League played at the TU Cricket Stadium, on Thursday. Gladiators, who earlier thumped Kathmandu Kings XI, opted to field first after winning the toss restricted their opponent for 141/9 and achieved the target with four wickets in hand in the last ball of the innings. Skipper Veswakar decision to field first paid dividends as right arm medium pacer Dipesh Shrestha snared two early wickets of Pawan Sarraf and Indian recruit wicket keeper Jaykishan Kolsawala cheaply. At one stage Lalitpur Patriots were reeling for 39/3 in the ninth over. However, skipper Gyanendra Malla steadied the ship with his measured innings of 42 runs off 29 balls with two fours and three sixes. Punit Mishra twin strike pegged back Lalitpur innings as he cleaned up Malla and Rajbir Singh. Indian recruit Yogesh Nagar whirlwind inning of 54 runs of 33 balls included seven fours and a towering six over the cow corner. Spearhead Dinesh Shrestha was pick of the bowler with 4-0-24-3. Aarif Sheikh and Punit Mishra took two wickets each and skipper Vesawkar chipped in with a maiden wicket. In reply, Bhairahawa Gladiators made the worst possible start of the innings as they lost three wickets for just 33 runs in the eight over. Gladiator's Harishankar Shah was run out for 10 runs in the 2.4 overs and Pradeep Airee was trapped leg before wicket by Yogesh Nagar after contributing one run in the fifth over. With quick wickets Lalitpur Patriots exerted pressure on the opponents and Veswakar was cleaned up by leg spinner Sandeep Lamichanne after painstaking 13 runs off 24 balls. However, Yogesh Nagar hit match winning fifty runs to relaid the foundation for the chase. Rohit Paudel brisk 31 runs of just 11 deliveries took the game away from Lalitpur Patriots clautches in the last moment. Lalitpur were on the hunt but Aarif Sheikh and Rohit Kumar Paudel shared 33 runs for the sixth wicket partnership. The score was level after Paudel tried to steal two runs for victory was subsequently run out by Alam in the 19.5 overs with a single run required for victory or the super overs on the cards. with a single run required for victory, Lalitpur Patriots brought the men closer for restricting a single, however Krishna Karki had other ideas as he smashed four to take him team home. Yogesh Nagar bagged two wickets where as Suboth Bhati and Sandeep Lamichhane chipped in with a wicket each. Punit Bista was adjudged as man of the match for his matching knock of fifty runs and received Rs 10,000. With today's victory, Bhairahawa Gladiators have accumulated four points in two games.