KATHMANDU: Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya (SAM) defeated Adarsha Vidhya Mandir by 24 runs to claim the sixth SNB Memorial Inter-school Twenty20 Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.
In the rain-hit final match that was reduced to 13-over-a-side, SAM posted a defendable 104-5 and their bowlers did the rest of the job restricting AVM to 80-8. SAM’s total was built around a solid 47-run partnership for the first wicket between Kiran Shrestha and Bikash Limbu. Kiran struck a superb 32 off 25 deliveries with two fours and Bikash made 15 off 23 with one boundary to take SAM close to 50-run mark inside seven overs.
Roshan Khatri then hit a four and a six to make 19 runs in 21 balls and Sujan Basnet made 13 off nine deliveries helping SAM cross the triple figure mark. Nirmal Bastakoti and Ayush Thapa scored five runs each. Umanga Pradhan and Bishu Babu Adhikari picked up one wicket each for AVM.
While SAM’s innings picked the momentum with the opening partnership, AVM in contrast made a horrible start when they lost first three wickets for just 17 runs. No 4 batsman Bishwojeet Shah and No 5 Utsav Koirala (nine) resisted SAM attack for a while adding 27 runs for the fourth wicket. But thereafter AVM struggled for runs and kept losing wickets in the regular intervals.
Bishwojeet struck a 19-ball 21 with one boundary while Bishu was the only other AVM batsman to score in double digits with 10 runs. Ayush Thapa was unbeaten on nine runs. Player-of-the-final Sujan grabbed two wickets for SAM, while Ayush Thapa, Abhishek Katwal and Milan Karki had one scalps each.
Prakash Bista of EPS was declared the man-of-the-series with five wickets and 100 runs, while SAM’s Sujan was adjudged the best batsman and Umanga Pradhan of AVM the best bowlers. National Sports Council member secretary Yubaraj Lama, Cricket Association of Nepal president Binaya Raj Pandey and AVM principal Sujita Manandhar among others gave away the prizes.
