Nepal APF Club and Region No 2 (Birgunj) have already reached the semifinals from Group B as group winner and runner-up.Bhairahawa elected to bat first at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur but was bundled out for 92 runs in 17 overs. [break]
Opener Fazlur Rehman Khan clobbered 40 runs off 23 balls with four sixes and two fours. Iklakh Ahamad (unbeaten 15 runs) and Nischal Chaudhary (12 runs) were the only other major contributors for Bhairahawa.
Man-of-the-match Rahul Vishwakarma dismissed three Bhairahawa batsmen, while Chandra Sawad, Rupesh Shrivastav and Rajesh Pulami claimed two wickets each. Sagar Pun also picked up a wicket.
Chasing the low total, Army reached the target in 14.1 overs losing only one wicket. Army lost opener Sagar Pun (1 run) in the second over but Anil Mandal and Naresh Budhaayer added 88 runs for the second wicket to seal the victory for Army. Mandal hit an unbeaten 44 runs off 38 balls with seven boundaries. Budhaayer garnered 38 runs off 42 balls with four boundaries. Mahesh Mishra took the only wicket for Bhairahawa.
Kathmandu and Army have six points each from three matches in the five-team Group A, but Kathmandu leads the table with a better net run-rate. Bhairahawa is in third position with four points from four matches. Kathmandu and Army will face each other on Wednesday to decide the group winner and runner-up.
In a contest between two already eliminated teams of Group A, Region No 9 (Mahendranagar) defeated Region No 6 (Baitadi) by 20 runs on Tuesday at Pulchowk Engineering College Ground, Lalitpur. Mahendranagar elected to bat first and reached 106/3 in 20 overs as man-of-the-match Kamal Raj Joshi scored an unbeaten 32 runs off 29 balls. Sagar Joshi (28 runs) and Dipendra Chand (25 runs) were the other major contributors for Mahendranagar.
Santosh Bhatta, Prem Tamang and Ramesh Chand claimed a wicket each. In reply, Baitadi could manage only 86/6 in 20 overs. Mahendra Chand topscored for Baitadi with 21 runs, followed by Basanta Khatri (17 runs) and Dilip Nath (16 runs). Binod Lama picked up two wickets while Sanjay Pant and Dipendra Airee claimed a wicket each for Mahendranagar.
In a similar contest in Group B, Region No 7 (Janakpur) defeated Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by eight wickets. Biratnagar elected to bat and was all out for 87 runs. In reply, Janakpur reached 91/2 in 15.5 overs. Man-of-the-match Raj Mohammed topscored with an unbeaten 30 runs, Prahlad Sah added 25 runs and Rahul Pratap Singh remained unbeaten on 22 runs off 28 balls.
Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) defeated Region No 8 (Pokhara) by eight wickets in another Group B match. Nepalgunj skittled Pokhara for 89 runs in 19 overs as man-of-the-match Akash Bista dismissed four Pokhara batsmen and Nijamuddin Halwai took three wickets. Bhupendra Rokka chipped in with two wickets for Nepalgunj. Nepalgunj reached the target in 16.2 overs losing only two wickets. Mahesh Chhetri remained unbeaten on 50 runs off 55 balls and Anupam Singh added 32 runs off 39 balls to seal a comprehensive victory.
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