Pokhara elected to bat and was all out for 141 runs in 36.4 overs. In reply, Janakpur reached the target in 37.4 overs losing nine wickets.[break]
Openers Sanjosh Bhattarai (16 runs) and Manoj Koirala (21 runs) shared a 44-run partnership at the Pulchowk Engineering Cricket Ground. Though other batsmen failed against the bowling attack of Janakpur, Dhruba Karki scored 47 runs off 60 balls to guide Pokhara to a respectable total.
Abhishek Jha took four wickets while Gopal Singh, Rahul Pratap Singh and Hari Shankar Sah claimed two wickets each for Janakpur.
In the run-chase, Janakpur suffered hiccups as it lost opener Sanjeet Pandey and Chandan Jha cheaply. Another opener Hari Shankar Sah scored 18 runs off 21 balls.
However, a 40-run partnership between Ansaj Upadhyay (21 runs) and skipper Rahul Pratap Singh for the fifth wicket and another 28-run stand between Singh and Sameer Nepal (14 runs) gave Janakpur hope.
Singh scored 38 runs off 59 balls. Janakpur lost a couple of wickets in quick succession again but Kailash Mandal chipped in with an unbeaten nine runs off 13 balls to seal a thrilling one-wicket victory.
Janakpur skipper Singh won the man-of-the-match award for his all-round performance.
Janakpur meets Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Saturday while Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) takes on Region No 9 (Mahendranagar) at the Pulchowk Engineering Cricket Ground.
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