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Karan KC claimed five wickets including a hat-trick as Nepal reached the final of the Tri-Nation T20I Series on Thursday.

In the match played at the TU ground in Kirtipur on Thursday, Nepal hammered Papua New Guinea by 37 runs.

Chasing the target of 204 runs, PNG were bowled out in 166 runs in 19.4 overs. This is PNG’s third consecutive defeat.

Karan KC took five wickets at the cost of 21 runs in 3.4 overs. This is the first time that the Nepali bowler claimed five wickets in the T20 International.

Abinash Bohara and Sompal Kami took two wickets each while skipper Sandeep Lamichhane claimed one wicket.

Sent into bat first after losing the toss, Nepal scored 203 runs in allotted 20 overs losing six wickets.

Dipendra Singh Airee scored highest 66 runs off 33 balls hitting for sixes and three fours.

Similarly, Rohit Paudel made 41 runs of 23 balls with two sixes and four boundaries.

Opener Asif Sheikh made 38 runs off 29 balls hitting one six and four boundaries. Kushal Bhurtel scored 17 runs off 20 balls and Mohammad Adil Ahamad contributed 31 runs of 11 balls.

Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga returned figures of 4-20 to set up a three-wicket victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore in a low-scoring IPL thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, AFP reported.

Hasaranga's inspired spell of leg-spin helped bowl out Kolkata for 128, a total Bangalore overhauled with four balls to spare after some late drama at Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium.

Fast bowlers Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav claimed five wickets between them to rattle the Bangalore top and middle-order before Sherfane Rutherford's 28 and an unbeaten 14 off seven by Dinesh Karthik got the team home.

Bangalore, led by new skipper Faf du Plessis, bounced back from their opening loss to register their first win of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

Rutherford, a left-handed West Indies batter, put on key partnerships including a 39-run stand with Shahbaz Ahmed, who made 27, according to AFP.

Southee took down Rutherford and then Hasaranga in one over to keep the game in the balance but Karthik finished it off with a six and a four in the final over off Andre Russell.

Earlier Bangalore's Akash Deep and fellow pace bowler Mohammed Siraj rattled the Kolkata top-order.

Hasaranga soon combined to send back skipper Shreyas Iyer for 13 and then two successive scalps in one over as Kolkata slipped to 66-7.

Russell attempted to hit back with his 18-ball 25 but fell caught behind to medium-pace bowler Harshal Patel and the Kolkata innings folded in 18.5 overs.

The world's most valuable cricket tournament has been expanded to 10 teams and 74 matches this season but league games remain restricted to two venues including Pune with limited crowd due to coronavirus-related restrictions, AFP reported.

Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two new teams added to the league, take on holders Chennai Super Kings on Thursday at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium.

Nepal defeated Malaysia by six wickets in the Tri-Nation T20 Series on Wednesday. 

Nepal reached the target of 115 runs set by Malaysia in 13.4 overs overs at the loss of four wickets.

Asif Sheikh scored highest 57 runs off 38 balls by hitting one six and seven fours. 

Dilip Nath, who made his debut in the T20, contributed 15 runs of seven balls hitting three boundaries. 

After the second consecutive victory, Nepal's chances of reaching the final have become stronger.

In the first match, Nepal thrashed Papua New Guinea by 15 runs. 

This is Malaysia’s first defeat. Malaysia had also defeated Papua New Guinea in their first game. 

Rohit Paudel scored 12 runs. 

Later, Asif Sheikh and Dipendra Singh Airee made 70 runs in partnership. 

Earlier, Malaysia, who decided to bat first after winning the toss, scored 114 runs in allotted 20 overs by losing eight wickets. 

Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took two wickets each for Nepal while Airee claimed one wicket.

Likewise, Abinash Bohara and Kushal Malla took one wicket each.

Nepal will play their third match against Papua New Guinea on Thursday.

Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes scored a clinical double as they beat stubborn visitors North Macedonia 2-0 to qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar after a tense European playoff tie on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Roared on by 50,000 fans at a sold-out Dragao Stadium in Porto, Portugal dominated the game from the start but struggled to break down the strong North Macedonian defence, managing only three shots on target despite having almost 70% possession.

Fernandes opened the scoring 30 minutes into the first half after intercepting a pass by his best friend, North Macedonia captain Stefan Ristovski, working a great one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo before whipping his shot past the goalkeeper.

The 27-year-old attacking midfielder sealed Portugal’s win in the 65th minute, striking home a volley from a Diogo Jota cross, according to Reuters.

Fernando Santos’s team then ran down the clock, celebrating at the final whistle with their joyful fans who remained in the stands for more than 15 minutes after the game, singing as the players completed a victory lap holding a huge Portugal flag.

“I don’t care about individual accomplishments but this display will be one to remember because it helped my country to reach a World Cup,” Fernandes told reporters.

Portugal, who won the 2016 European Championship in France and the 2019 UEFA Nations League at home, qualified for a sixth straight World Cup finals and have now not missed a major international competition in the last 20 years.

“I have already won two competitions and I hope I can win the third one in Qatar,” coach Santos told a news conference.

“There was a spirit of mutual help and great support from the public. It was a deserved and fair win and qualification. I don’t remember any great goalscoring situations for their team.”

They were pushed into the playoffs after finishing second in Group A, having lost their final game at home to Serbia 2-1 last November, Reuters reported.

That had left them needing to win two consecutive elimination games to qualify, with last week’s win over Turkey, where they survived late drama, setting up a decider against North Macedonia, who had stunned Italy in their opening match.

It was a nervous occasion in Porto on Tuesday but Portugal dominated and avoided any surprises from the underdogs, who did not have a shot on target, according to Reuters.