Winning the toss Janakpur opted to bat first and scored 177 runs losing all the wickets in 30 overs in the rain affected match played at Engineering Ground, Pulchowk on Wednesday. [break]
Janakpur lost opener Sobha Kant Pandey (17) in the last ball of the fifth over. Anil Kumar Mandal and Prahlad Sah shared highest 107-runs partnership for the second wicket to sail toward a good position.
Janakpur lost wickets at regular intervals after the fall of Mandal when team´s total was 141. Mandal scored quick-fired 83 runs off 57 balls with 11 boundaries and three huge sixes.
But, Janakpur lost its last eight wickets just for 36 runs as Manoj Mandal took hat-trick for Biratnagar. Three of the Janakpur batsmen were out without scoring a run.
Amit Shrestha took five wickets in eight overs conceding 21 runs while Manoj Mandal bagged four wickets in his seven overs giving away 25 runs.
In reply, Biratnagar were bowled out for 147 runs in 35.1 overs. Biratnagar did not have good start as they lost their opener Sunil Bista in the second over of the innings. Somesh Yadhav and Ajay Rajbansi were in the crease when torrential rainfall halted the play.
After the rain, Biratnagar were handed the revised target of 167 runs in 43 overs. Biratnagar batsmen were not able to handle the pressure and lost wickets in regular intervals. Anup Karki was the last batsmen to be removed from the crease. Karki scored 28 runs off 52 balls. Rajbansi scored 20 runs off 35 balls with three boundaries.
Anil Mandal took four wickets in his nine over spell conceding 27 runs. Abhishek Jha took two wickets while Kumar Prasun and Rahul Pratap Singh grabbed a wicket each for Janakpur.
Kathmandu registers win
In another match played at the TU Cricket Ground, Region No 3 (Kathmandu) defeated Region No 8 (Pokhara) by six wickets. With the win Kathmandu has climbed to the second place of group A.
Winning the toss Pokhara scored 149 runs losing all the wickets in 44.3 overs. Shiva Subedi was the highest scorer with 39 runs off 92 balls with three boundaries and Ishan Baniya scored 36 runs off 39 balls.
Bijay Gautam took four wickets in his 10 overs conceding 20 runs. Pramod Basnet took two wickets while Rajesh Pulami and Rikesh Lama took a wicket each.
Kathmandu crossed the target in 39.2 overs losing four wickets. Pulami scored half century in the Kathmandu win. Pulami played 71 balls and scored 51 runs with six boundaries and a six. Opener Suman Shrestha scored 30 runs off 84 balls.
Dipen Lamgade bagged two wickets in 10 overs conceding 35 runs while Dipesh Khatri and Shiva Subedi shared a wicket each.
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