Region Number 6 Baitadi and Region Number 1 Biratnagar registered easy victories on Sunday in the U-16 National Cricket Tournament being held on Kathmandu.
Baitadi defeated Region Number 2 Birgunj by six wickets while Biratnagar thrashed Region Number 8 Pokhara by a huge 126 runs.
In a match played at TU Ground, Baitadi was invited to field after Birgunj won the toss.
Aquib Ali Ansari scored 38 runs off 55 balls, Nitesh Thakur scored 27 runs off 71 balls and Tarik Ansari added 15 runs off 19 deliveries as Birgunj put a low score of 140 runs losing all wickets in 36.3 overs.
Manoj Chand remained the pick of the bowlers as he grabbed three wickets conceding only 16 runs for his 5 overs. Neeraj Pokhrel picked up two wickets while Jagdish Chand, Bhim Sarki and Sundar Bist shared a scalp each.
In reply, Baitadi closed the innings in 22.5 overs with a successful chase losing only four wickets.Deependra Chand, the man of the match for his 64 runs off 68 balls including ten fours shared a 125 runs partnership with Tekendra Malla for a first wicket who made 43 runs off 45 balls with six fours. Though losing the four wickets, Baitadi chased the target successfully in 22.3 overs.
Anand Gupta and Samsad Ansari picked up a wicket each for Birgunj.
In another match played, Biratnagar won the toss and elected to bat first.
With a magnificent 59 runs off 69 balls from Mayananda Chaudhary and 44 runs off 55 balls from Makunda Yadav, Biratnagar put 223 runs on board losing nine wickets. Chaudhary hit five fours and a six while Yadav had five boundaries. Suraj K.C. added 30 runs off 32 balls while Rajeev Yadav added another 29 runs off 22 balls. Rajeev B.K.(18), Prithivi Subba (14), Kalicharan Yadav (13) and Lokesh Jha (11) were the other batsman to score a double digit figure.
Rajesh Lamsal, Sushil Kandel and Aashiq Shrestha picked up two wickets while Niraj Pandey and Keshav Khatri grabbed wicket apiece for Pokhara.
In reply, Pokhara was bundled up for 122 runs in 31.1 overs. Sangarsh Poudel top scored with 22 runs off 23 balls while Keshav Chhetri made 16 runs. Rajesh Lamsal added 13 while Pankaj Sarai remained not out for 12 runs.
Into Biratnagar’s win, man of the match Utsav Dahal picked up four wickets, Heman Rai grabbed three wickets, Rohit Singh added two wickets while Kalicharan Yadav took a wicket.
After Sunday’s games, Baitadi lead the group A with two wins out of two while Kathmandu is a step behind with a win from two games. While in group B, Bhairahawa is in top with a win from a game played. Biratnagar with a win from two matches is in the second position just ahead of the net run rate.
On Monday, Region Number 4 Bhairahawa will face Region Number 5 Nepalgunj at TU Ground while Region Number 2 Birgunj will play against Region Number 7 Janakpur in Engineering Ground, Pulchowk.
