Kathmandu/Cricnepal: Region Number IV Bhairahawa registered the second victory in a row to keep the title race a step closer while Region Number VII Janakpur stay alive with the win in the second day of the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament here today.
In the match at Tribhuwan University Ground, Bhairahawa edged Region Number V Nepalgunj by five wickets while at Pulchowk, Janakpur defeated Region Number VI Baitadi by 33 runs.
Nepalgunj won the toss and elected to bat first. Hasim Halwai opened the innings with 24 runs and shared a partnership of 22 runs with Rupesh Sharma. Rupesh later failed and departed at the score of 17. Wasim played 54 ball hitting a four and a six. Rupesh had hit three fours during his 17 balls play.
The middle order failed to make perfect runs and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Amar Singh who entered the crease as number nine batsman scored 32 runs off 67 deliveries including two fours and a six. Ammar shared a 37 runs partnership with Puran Singh Khatri for ninth wicket. Puran later scored 21 runs off 45 balls. Pratik Hamal(12) and Inamuddin Halwai(11) contributed some to the batting team.
For Bhairahawa, man of the match Bivek Chaudhary and Iklakh Ahmed Warsi picked up three wickets each, Devendra Somare grabbed two wickets while Sushan Bhari and Krishna Sen shared a scalp each.
In reply, Bhairahawa chased the target in 33.2 overs losing five wickets. Good batting from the top order batsman followed by the middle order, made Bhairahawa’s chase easy.
Nirmal Thapa opened with 23 runs off 28 balls hitting five fours. Sushan Bihari was bowled for 10 runs. The two batsman, Kiran Pandey and Krishna Sen shared a 54 runs partnership for third wicket. Kiran scored 38 off 48 with five boundaries while Krishna made 44-ball 37 with five fours. 40 runs partnership between Kiran and Rabindra Thapa took Bhairahawa closer to win as the score was 132 for 4. Kiran was later caught out while Rabindra remained unbeaten at 26 runs off 49 balls hitting four fours. Saurav Khanal contributed 10 runs in the chase.
Siddhant Raj Shahi grabbed two wickets while Sunil Sunar, Inamuddin Halwai and Afak Sheikh picked up a wicket each for Nepalgunj.
At Engineering Ground, Pulchowk Janakpur registered the first victory after they chose to bat first and scored 179 runs in 46.4 overs losing all wickets.
Abhishek Jha remained not out at top score of 37 runs with 55 balls including three fours. Hari Shankar Sah scored 27 runs off 39 balls hitting three fours. Pradeep Sapkota added 23 off 16 with two fours and a six while Mukesh Jha(19) and Abhishek Gautam(18) were some other major contributors.
Dipendra Airee remained the pick of the bowlers with four wickets while Santosh Bhatta, Binod Lama and Yagya Man Kumal shared two scalps each for Baitadi. Dipendra bowled 9.4 overs conceding 31 runs while an over went as maiden.
In reply, Baitadi managed to score only 146 runs in 36.1 overs losing all wickets. Surendra Chand and Dipendra Airee top scored for Janakpur with 39 runs. Surendra played 47 balls that included six fours while Dipendra faced 53 balls and also hit six fours. None of the other batsman played good enough as Baitadi failed to make second win of the tournament. Binod Lama added 17, Santosh Bhatta made 15 while Bikram Sob contributed 11.
Showing a good piece of bowling, man of the match, Gopal Singh picked up four wickets, Sameer Nepal took three wickets while Abishek Jha, Hari Shankar Sah and Pradeep Sapkota claimed a wicket each for Janakpur.
After Monday’s matches, Bhairahawa stands first in the table with two wins of two. Baitadi stand second. Janakpur who also have equal two points are in third position with the net run rate of -0.79. Nepalgunj is already out of the tournament with two consecutive defeats. Baitadi have the net run rate of +0.533
On Tuesday, the last day of the group A matches, Bhairahawa will now take on Baitadi at TU Ground while at Engineering Ground, Pulchowk Janakpur will face Nepalgunj.
Bhairahawa on registering win will progress to the final while, Baitadi and Janakpur need a win by good margin to progress to the finals.
