Bhuban Karki's five-wicket haul and half centuries from skipper Paras and Anil Kumar Mandal helped Nepal Red beat Nepal Blue by 37 runs at the Tribhuvan University Ground in Kirtipur.After posting 212 runs target, Nepal Red restricted Nepal Blue on 174 runs in 39.2 overs.
Player-of-the-match Bhuban bagged five wickets for Nepal Red giving away only 24 runs in seven overs.
Nepal Blue's opener Bhupendra Thapa scored 51 runs off 71 balls and shared 40 runs with Naresh Budhayer (16 off 21) for the first wicket. Similarly, Bidhan Shrestha and Mehboob Alam contributed equal 24 runs but that were not enough for Nepal Blue to win the match as tail-enders did not click.
Earlier, Anil Kumar and Paras shared 103 runs stand for the third wicket to helped Nepal Red put 211/6 in allotted 50 overs. Anil hit 52 runs off 117 balls and Paras scored 60 runs facing 103 balls. Pushpa Thapa remained not out on 39 runs playing only 23 balls.
Sanjam Regmi claimed five wickets conceding 55 runs in 10 overs and Mehboob took one wicket for Nepal Blue.
Similarly, Nepal Grey, captained by Shakti Gauchan, beat Basant Regmi-led Nepal Green by 108 runs at Pulchowk Engineering College Ground.
Nepal Grey, after being invited to bat first, put up 204/9 as player-of-the-match Hasim Ansari scored 91 runs off 107 balls that included 11 fours. Siddhant Lohani added 24 runs playing 42 balls.
At one time during the game, Nepal Grey was 69/4 in 15.5 overs but Hasim shared 61 runs stand with Siddhant for the fifth wicket and added 48 runs with Himanshu Dutta (12) to revive the match and help his team to put up a fighting total.
Karan KC and Santosh Bhatta picked up three wickets each for Nepal Green, which was bundled out for 96 runs in 33.4 overs. Anupam Singh top scored 28 runs off 44 balls. Santosh (16), Prithu Baskota (15) and Karan (12) were other batsmen to score in double digit for the losing side.
Irshad Ahmed claimed three wickets, while Mouniddin Khand, Pradeep Airee and Siddhant took two wickets each.
On Tuesday, Nepal Green will play against Nepal Orange at TU Ground and Nepal Blue will face Nepal Grey at Pulchowk.
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