Kathmandu/Cricnepal: Region No 4 Bhairahawa registered the second victory in the U-16 National Cricket Tournament to put a strong chances for the final where only a top from each pool progress while Region No 7 Janakpur registered it’s first win of the tournament on Monday.
Bhairahawa beat Nepalgunj by 76 runs in a match played at the TU Cricket Ground while Region No 7 Janakpur registered its first win, defeating Birgunj by two wickets at the Engineering Ground, Pulchowk.
In a group ´B´ match, Bhairahawa won the toss and elected to bat first. Rahul Bhattarai scored unbeaten 28 runs, Sabin Ratna Shakya made 21 runs and Prithivi Chaurel Chhetri added 24 runs to give Bhairahawa a total of 165 runs for all wickets in 39.2 overs.Bhairahawa was lucky for the day as Nepalgunj gave away 34 runs as extras, including 29 wides.
Akash Bista took three wickets and Prajwal Shahi claimed two wickets for Nepalgunj.
Chasing 166-run target in 40 overs, Nepalgunj was all out for 89 runs in 22.4 overs. Abrar Ahamed (10 runs) and Anup Neupane (11 runs) were the only batsmen to reach double digits. Bhairahawa also gave away 34 runs as extras including 25 wides.
Man-of-the-match Iklakh Ahmed took four wickets and Rupesh Bastola claimed three wickets to seal the victory for Bhairahawa.
In group ´A´ match played at the Engineering ground, Birgunj won the toss and elected to bat first. Aquib Ali Ansari scored unbeaten 61 runs and Sitesh Tiwari added 19 runs as Birgunj was all out for 130 runs in 30.3 overs. Sasibhusan Mishra and Rabin Gupta took three wickets each for Janakpur.
Chasing the 130-run target, Janakpur met the target in 30.1 overs losing eight wickets. Man-of-the-match Sasibhusan Mishra scored unbeaten 50 runs to seal the victory for Janakpur.
Anand Gupta, Samsad Ansari and Aquib Ali Ansari took two wickets each for Birgunj.
On Tuesday, Region Number 1 Biratnagar will play Region Number 8 Pokhara while Region Number 6 Baitadi will lock horns with Region Number 7 Janakpur.
