APF thrashed Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by 86 runs at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur while Birgunj registered a two-wicket victory over Region No 7 (Janakpur) at the Pulchowk Engineering College Ground, Lalitpur on Monday. [break]
APF elected to bat and reached 194/4 in 20 overs as Gyanendra Malla blasted an unbeaten 63 runs off 24 balls and Pradeep Airee scored 63 runs off 45 balls. Opener Subash Khakurel returned to the pavilion without opening his account while Paresh Lohani (19 runs off 30 balls) added 74 runs for the second wicket with Airee.
Airee struck seven fours and two sixes. Man-of-the-match Malla hit five sixes and four fours. Skipper Paras Khadka clobbered 25 runs off nine balls with three sixes and a four. Sharad Vesawkar remained unbeaten on 21 runs off 10 balls.
Anup Karki, Raj Kumar Pradhan and Pushpa Thapa claimed a wicket each for Biratnagar.
Chasing the huge total, Biratnagar managed only 108/9 in 20 overs. Opener Sunny Pun tried to anchor the Biratnagar innings with 62 runs off 47 balls but none of the other batsmen except Pushpa Thapa (12 runs off 20 balls) supported him.
Shakti Gauchan dismissed three Biratnagar batsmen while Bhuwan Karki and Dipendra Chaudhary claimed two wickets each. Amrit Bhattarai and Paras Khadka claimed a wicket each.
BIKASH KARKI
Nepal Army’s batsman Sagar Pun in action against Region No 9 Mahendranagar during their match of the Pepsi Standard Chartered T20 National Cricket Tournament at Pulchowk Engineering College, Lalitpur on Monday.
With the win, APF topped the table with nine points from five matches to enter the semifinals as the winner of Group B. Birgunj advanced as the group runner-up collecting eight points from five matches. Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) finished third in the group with five points and a match in hand.
In another match, Janakpur elected to bat and put up 115/7 in 20 overs. In reply, Birgunj reached 117/8 in 19.3 overs to secure berth in the semifinals.
Rahul Pratap Singh scored an unbeaten 30 runs off 25 balls while Hari Shankar Sah and Sameer Nepal added 18 runs each. Irshad Ahmed and Ram Naresh Giri claimed two wickets each while Kumar Thapa dismissed one batsman.
Janakpur bowlers gave away 33 extras, while Bikram Basnet and Aarif Sheikh played crucial knocks of 21 and 17 for Birgunj respectively. Man-of-the-match Ram Naresh Giri remained unbeaten on 13 runs off seven balls to secure a two-wicket victory for Birgunj. Abhishek Jha claimed two wickets while Sanjog Karn, Gopal Singh, Raj Mohammed and Hari Shankar Sah took a wicket each.
In Group A, Nepal Army defeated Region No 9 (Mahendranagar) in a clash between two debutant teams for its second consecutive victory in the tournament.
Army restricted Mahendranagar to 99/6 in 19 overs after winning the toss and electing to field at the Pulchowk Engineering College Ground. As an over was deducted from each innings because of rain, the D/L target for Army was 101 in 19 overs. Army reached the target in 18.1 overs losing six wickets.
Surendra Chand scored an unbeaten 41 runs off 44 balls for Mahendranagar while Raju Sharma hit 27 runs off 19 balls. Naresh Budhayer garnered 38 runs off 40 balls. Man-of-the-match Rajesh Pulami, who took two wickets earlier, added 25 runs off 30 balls to seal a four-wicket victory for Army.
Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) also recorded its second straight victory in the tournament defeating Region No 6 (Baitadi) by 25 runs at the TU Ground.
Baitadi won the toss and invited Bhairahawa to bat first. Man-of-the-match Prakash KC blasted an unbeaten 52 runs off 36 balls and Amit Shrestha chipped in with 29 runs off 34 balls as Bhairahawa put up 138/6 in 20 overs. Basant Khatri took two wickets while Santosh Bhatt and Prashant Bista and Ramesh Chand claimed a wicket each.
Baitadi reached only 113/9 in 20 overs despite Mahendra Chand’s 48 runs off 52 balls. Fazlur Rehman Khan claimed three wickets and Moinuddin Khan took two.
Army has four points from two matches while Bhairahawa has equal points from three matches in the Group A points table. Region No 3 (Kathmandu) occupies the top spot with six points from three matches.
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