KATHMANDU, Jan 19: Tribhuvan Army Club and Himalayan Cricket Academy are set to play the final match of the First National Inter-club Youth Cricket Championship being played at the Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. The final will be played on Wednesday.
The title clash between the clubs was confirmed on Tuesday as both the teams were victorious in the semifinals on the same day.
In the semifinals, Army beat Baluwatar Cricket Club by seven runs, while Himalayan Cricket Academy defeated Great Himalayan Cricket Academy by 33 runs.
Army, being invited to bat first, put pu 118/6 in allotted 20 overs with Rajesh Pulami scoring highest 31 runs from 30 balls and Sagar Pun adding 24 runs off 31 balls. Rajesh hit five fours and Sagar hit two fours. Skipper Binod Bhandari (20 off 21) and Naresh Budhayer (16 off 19) were other batsmen to score in double figures.
Baluwatar's Rohit Paudel bagged highest two wickets, while Anup Oli, Kshitiz Singh, Bijay Gautam and Sunil Lama claimed a wicket each.
In chasing 119 runs target, Baluwatar was bowled out for 111 with two balls to spare as Army's Sharad Vesawkar took five wickets giving away only 15 runs in 3.4 overs.
Baluwatar's four batsmen Rabin Joshi (25 runs off 36 balls), Bijay (22 off 27), Sonu Tamang (19 off 13) and Rohit (12 off 13) reached double figures but this was not enough for the team.
Bikram Sob, Sagar Pun and Rahul BK bagged a wicket each for the Army.
In another match, Himalayan, being invited to bat first, managed 162/3 as Amar Singh Rautela remained not out on 46 runs off only 21 balls that included four sixes and three boundaries.
Similarly, Santosh Bhatta scored 36 runs facing 28 balls, Arun Airee contributed 26 runs playing 27 balls and Sandeep Jora added 25-run-a-ball.
Shuvam Agrawal, Ashish Pokhrel and Prakash Bista claimed a wicket each for Great Himalayan that reached 129/9 while chasing the target, despite PradeepTandan and Rakesh Karn scored 31 runs both. Pradeep faced 40 balls and hit four boundaries, while Rakesh played 36 balls that included five boundaries.
Himalayan's Bhuwan Karki bagged highest three wickets, while Yagyaman Kumal claimed two and Amar Singh Rautela took a wicket.