Bank of Asia, Nepal FM and NMB Bank have secured their pre-quarterfinal spots in the 13th Soaltee Crowne Plaza Super Sixes cricket tournament.
Bank of Asia qualified for the second round as the group winner from Group B, while Nepal FM and NMB Bank confirmed their berths with two wins from two matches from Group E.
Bank of Asia, which had won two matches on the first day of the tournament, defeated Century Bank by five wickets on Monday. Diwesh Dangol was instrumental in the victory of Bank of Asia as he took two wickets to restrict Century Bank to 54/6. Dangol also scored 20 runs as Bank of Asia successfully chased the target scoring 59 runs in just 3.2 overs losing one wicket.
Nepal FM defeated Micromax by five wickets to advance into the second round. Nepal FM invited Micromax to bat first and held the latter to 65/3. Sijay Ghalam scored 34 runs off 13 balls for Micromax. Nepal FM reached the target in 4.4 overs losing only one wicket. Niraj Basnet scored 31 runs off 13 balls for the winning team.
Winning both matches of the day NMB Bank also booked its place in the second round. NMB defeated International Development Bank by eight runs and Micromax by two runs. Winning the toss NMB scored 82/1 and restricted International Development Bank to 74 runs. In another match, NMB scored 63/0 as Rabindra Chand struck 32 runs. In reply, Micromax was restricted to 61/3.
Nepal Bank also registered twin victories on the second day of the tournament. Nepal Bank defeated Nagarik by five runs and Himalayan Bank by four wickets. Nepal Bank won the toss and scored 70/2 against Nagarik. Nagarik could reach only 65/1 in reply. Kalyan Halwai was the highest scorer with 18 runs.
In another match, Himalayan Bank scored 31/6 after winning the toss and opting to bat first. Bishnu Neupane and Sandesh Lamsal took two wickets for Nepal Bank. Nepal Bank met the target in 3.1 overs losing two wickets.
Likewise, defending champion Nepal SBI Bank, Bottlers Nepal and Kantipur Media Group registered wins on Monday. SBI Bank defeated Siddhartha Bank by six runs. Siddhartha won the toss and invited SBI to bat first. SBI scored 56/2 with 24 runs from Min Bahadur Gurung. Abadh Upadhyaya took three wickets to restrict Siddhartha to 50 runs.
Bottlers Nepal beat host Soaltee Crown Plaza by three runs. Winning the toss Bottlers Nepal scored 61/2 and restricted Soaltee to 58/3. Kantipur Media Group registered a 12-run victory over Agni Air. Batting first Kantipur scored 75/2 with 31 runs from Bhushan Yadav. Rohit Pachai´s then took three wickets to restrict Agni to 63/4.
