Dec 16, 2018- Gauchan, who announced his international retirement in July this year, had said the EPL was going to be his last appearance in domestic cricket but his farewell turned sour after Tigers defeated his side Pokhara Rhinos by seven wickets that kept the former alive in the race for the playoffs. A victory for Warriors, which has four points, will knock Tigers out but defeat will mean net run-rate will come into play as to who will qualify. Rhinos surprising left its South African signing Richard Levi in the last game after a series of four consecutive defeats and it badly affected its the batting as Kyle Coetzer-led side was restricted to a below-par 129-5 with Sunil Dhamala making a half century. Irish captain Paul Stirling and Dipendra Singh Airee led the reply for Tigers with half centuries, forging a match-winning 69-run partnership as it reached 132-3 in 19 overs. Right-arm seamer Nandan Yadav played his one and only game for Rhinos and the youngster gave team management food for thought removing Sandeep Sunar (10) and John Simpson (nine) reducing Tigers to 41-2. Stirling, who has been uncharacteristically failed to fire in the first three matches, played sensibly this time scoring46-ball 55 in his 69-run stand with Airee. He struck five fours and two sixes. When Stirling was out, Tigers were just 20 runs away from victory. Airee and George Scott kept calm to guide Tigers home. Airee continued his fine for scoring an unbeaten 54 off 46 balls. He hit five fours and two sixes. Tigers bowlers didn’t allow Rhinos new opening pair Coetzer and Binod Bhandari to score freely. Coetzer fell to George Scott in the fifth over for a 17-ball 23 after the Scottish skipper hit three fours and a six. Bhandari and Dhamala put on 48 runs for the second wicket. Bhandari’s 36-ball 27 included three boundaries. Dhamala scored a 42-ball 51 with three fours and two sixes. George Scott took 3-24 from four overs and Lalit Singh Bhandari snared 2-29.