KATHMANDU, June 29: Santosh Bhatta took a hattrick as Sudur Paschimanchal Academy beat Kathmandu Engineering College (KEC) by four wickets to advance to the quarter-finals of the fourth CCRC Intercollege Twenty20 Cricket Tournament here at the TU Stadium today.
Batting first, KEC were bowled out for 92 runs in 17 overs and Sudur Paschimanchal overcame the total losing six wickets in 17.5 overs. They advanced to the last eight as Group ‘C’ runners-up to Triton International College.
Nirmal Simangaida top scored for KEC with a fluent 26 from 23 balls, which included one six and a four.
Bharat Bajgai also contributed 29-ball 24 and Sudeep Adhikari chipped in 10. Their total was also boosted by 23 boundaries. Man-of-the-match Santosh was the pick of the Sudur Paschimanchal bowlers with 4-10 from three economical overs. He dismissed Nirmal, Bishwodeep Adhikari and Prakash Adhikari in the 17th over to complete a hat-trick.
Bikash Bom, Dinesh Agri and Prakash Khadka also bagged one wicket apiece.
Sudur Paschimanchal were tottering at 19-3 in the sixth over before the fourth wicket stand of 65 runs between Ramesh Shamant and Prem Chaudhary laid the foundation for their victory. Both Ramesh and Prem lost their wickets within the space of one run but by then Sudur Paschimanchal were in a touching distance of victory. Ramesh scored 40-ball 32 with one six and a four while Prem made 27-ball 28 with two hits to the fence. Sudeep
Adhikari and Nirmal took two wickets each while Sunil Humagain and Bibek Shrestha claimed one apiece for KEC. Meanwhile, the Group `B’ match between Classic College International (CCI) and Kathmandu University was abandoned due to rain and will be replayed on Thurs day. CCI were 67-2 in 7.2 overs before rain forced the abandonment.
