KATHMANDU, May 3: National Cricket Tournament´s new comer Region No 8 (Pokhara) made off to a flying start defeating Region No 2 (Prime Life Birgunj) by four wickets on Tuesday in the Pepsi One Day National match played at TU ground, Kirtipur.
Tight bowling from the Pokhara restricted Prime Life Birgunj at the total of 116 runs off 28.5 overs. Prime Life Birgunj had won the toss opted to bat first. Prime Life Birgunj made a good opening partnership of 39 runs for the first wicket.
Birgung captain Md Hasim Ansari (16) was first to leave the crease in 6.5 overs. Amit Shrestha was the next batsman to be removed from the crease by Pokhara.
Despite losing two quick wickets, Prime Life Birgunj had 41 runs partnership between Suraj Prasad Kurmi and Santosh Sah. This was their best partnership in the match as the later batsmen were bowled out with low score.
Kurmi was the highest scorer of the match with 20 runs off 37 balls. Three of the Prime Life Birgunj batsmen were out in duck while four others could not reach the double figure margin.
Pokhara´s Pradeep Rawat succeeded in taking three wickets in his eight-over spell conceding 21 runs with two maidens. Nischal Pandey and Dipesh Khatri shared two wickets each while Shiva Shrestha and Amrit Shrestha took one wicket.
Pokhara reached the target of 117 in 27.2 overs losing six wickets. Though Pokhara did not have a good start, man-of-the-match Dipesh Khatri´s unbeaten 32 runs off 40 balls guided them to the first victory. Khatri struck three boundaries and a six in his not out inning.
Rijan Prajoo played a captain innings with 27 runs and supported Khatri to play his struck.
Bibek Dali grabbed two wickets in 7.2 overs conceding 21 runs while Mohammad Hasim Ansari and Jitendra Mukhiya took a wicket apiece.
In another match played at Pulchowk engineering pround, Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) defeated Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by three wickets in the eight-over reduced match. The match was reduced to 42 overs per side due to rainfall.
Winning the toss, Biratnagar scored 165 runs losing all wickets in 37.5 overs. Somesh Yadav scored 81 runs off 103 balls including seven boundaries before being bowled by Bhairahawa captain Antim Thapa. Ajay Rajbanshi scored 37 runs off 41 balls with four boundaries and a six.
A 78-run partnership between these two players was crucial as they had lost their openers Sunil Bista (9) and Saddhab Akhtar (9) cheaply.
After the fall of Yadav and Rajbanshi, Biratnagar continued to lose its wickets in quick succession. Five of the Biratnagar players were out for duck.
Amit Shrestha took three wickets in two overs conceding two runs. Antim Thapa, Krishna Karki and Lal Bahadhur Adhikari grabbed two wickets each while Bal Bahadhur Thapa took one wicket.
Bhairahawa reached the target in 32.2 overs losing seven wickets. Bhairahawa did not have a good start in chasing the total of 166 as it lost openers Pritam Gurung and Nirmal Thapa with eight runs on board. The third batsman Kiran Pandey followed suit of the openers and was removed cheaply.
A 49-run partnership of Amit Shrestha and Antim Thapa guided the team to a strong position. Man-of-the-match Krishna Karki´s quick 59 runs sealed the victory. Karki struck three huge sixes and five boundaries in 50 balls.
Amit Dahak took two wickets in five overs conceding 28 runs. Ajay Rajbanshi also grabbed two wickets while Kundan Singh had one wicket.
REPUBLICA
