Bhairahawa, Birgunj and Kathmandu have registered wins in their respective matches of National T20 Cricket Tournament. Defending champion APF were lucky and escaped an embarrassment against Nepalgunj as Rained Washed the match and teams were forced to share points.
Mahendranagar too easy for Bhairahawa
Region No. 9 Mahendranagar faced third straight defeat, this time at hands of Bhairahawa. Winning the toss and batting first Mahendranagar posted 107/6 in 20 overs against an abysmal bowling display from Bhairahawa. Bhairahawa gifted Mahendranagar 30 extra runs(24 of them wides) which was 4 more than top scorer Surendra Chand’s 26 for Mahendranagar. Mahesh Misir who ended the game with decent figures of 4-0-21-1 alone gave way 9 wides.
Dipendra Chand who opened the batting for Mahendranagar contributed with 17 runs. Rupesh Bartola and Susan Bhari picked up 2 wickets for Bhairahawa.
Bhairahawa got to the target in 16.4 overs riding half century from Fazlur Rahman. Mahendranagar made the chase easy for Bhairahawa with —— extras, 19 of them wides. Amit Shrestha contributed with 16 for the winning side.
Fazlur Rehman was adjudged the player of the match for his match winning 50 of 36 balls. After losing his opening partner Sabib Shakya in the first ball of the chase, Fazlur took the game away from Mahendranagar as he blasted his way to 50 with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Having reached his 50 in 32 balls he fell to Binod Lama in the 10th over. By the time Rahman was out he had already propelled Bhairahawa to 75 runs in 10 overs and laid the winning foundation.
Birgunj Edge Over Pokhara in a Thriller
Chasing 152 against Birgunj ,Pokhara were 37/5 in 9th over but made a dramatic comeback in the match as the 5th wicket added 113 runs in just 11 overs. Pokhara eventually lost the match by just 2 runs.
Earlier Hasim Ansari and Amit Shrestha laid the winning foundation for Birgunj with opening stand of 122 runs. Ansari was first to ball, bowled by Suhsil Kadel in 16th over for 63 of 48 balls. Amit departed 5 balls and 2 runs later with 51 to his name. Krishna Bastola got two wickets for Pokhara.
Pokhara started off well and were 19/0 in 1.5 over. Jitendra Mukhiya drew first blood for Birgunj getting rid of Niscahl Pandey for 4. Birgunj broke once again in fourth over getting rid of Anil Gururng for 16. Akash Thapa failed once again as he added just 2 runs before getting caught off the ball of Jitendra Mukhiya; Pokhara were then 25/3 in 5.5 overs. Pokhara then lost two quick wickets- Sushil Kadel(1) and Rijan Prajoo(0) in 8th and 9th over and were 37/5 in 8.4 overs.
Amrit Shrestha and Dipesh Khatri then turned the tables for Pokhara. Amrit stayed unbeaten for 69 of 55 balls while Dipesh Khatri, who is also captaining the Pokhara side scored 40 of 28 balls. Duo added 113 runs in just over 11 overs but couldn’t take Pokhara to victory.
Hasim Ansari was declared the player of the match.
Dr Niraj Leads Kathmandu to Third Straight Win
Niraj Bhattarai served an all round performance to lead Region No. 3 Kathmandu to third straight win in the tournament. Dr. Niraj first picked up two wickets with his left arm spin in the first innings giving away just 13 runs and helped restrict Region No.6 Baitadi to just 95/9 in 20 overs. . Sompal Thapa also bagged two wickets for Kathmandu with his seam bowling. Niraj then made brisk 22 of just 10 balls opening the innings to give Kathmandu a good start. Bibhatsu then carried the team across the victory line with unbeaten 39 of 24 balls. Kathmandu chased the target with 8 wickets and 32 balls remaining.
Rain to APF’s Rescue
Defending Champion APF were in some trouble after being knocked over for just 92 runs in the first innings against Nepalgunj. Akash Bista and Amar Raoutela each picked up 4 wickets for Nepalgunj to restrict APF to small total.
Mahesh Chhetri who captained Nepalgunj with his smart field setting and nifty bowling changes did not allow APF to score freely. Paras Khada top scored for APF with 22 of 15 balls.
Rained rendered the outfield unplayable right after APF’s innings. The match was called off and APF and Nepalgunj shared points.