KATHMANDU, March 13: Tribhuvan Army Club inched closer to the semifinals of the Men's Senior One-day National Cricket Tournament recording three wins in a row, while Region No 2 (Birgunj) registered second wins on Thursday.
Army Club beat Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) by 60 runs at the Tribhuvan University Ground in Kirtipur, while Birgunj thrashed Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by three wickets Pulchowk Engineering Ground in Lalitpur in Group A matches.
Army collected six points from three matches to top the group table, while Birgunj has four points from three matches.
Nepalgunj also has four points from three matches. Birgunj is on the fourth position with two points from three matches. Region No 7 (Janakpur) and Region No 8 (Pokhara) have yet to get single point.
Sunam Gautam's four wickets haul was instrumental for Army Club's three wins in a row as it restricted Nepalgunj on 111/10 in 30.3 overs despite putting 172 runs low target.
Army inches closer to title
Nepalgunj's run chase was disappointed as it lost openers Siddhant Raj Shahi and Prajwal Shahi for a dock in the first over that let other batsmen to fail against discipline bowling from Army Club bowlers.
However, Rajbir Singh (33-runs off 47-balls) and Shubendu Pandey (27-runs off 56-balls) shared a 42-run stand for the fourth wickets to live up Nepalgunj's chances but that did not save it from its first defeat.
Besides Sunam four-wicket haul, Rahul BK claimed three and Avinash Karn picked up two wickets.
Earlier, Army was bundled out for 171 in 42.3 overs. Army Club had lost four wickets when there was only 35-run on the board, however, Rajesh Pulami (41), Rahul (22) and Chandra (22) played some good knocks kept alive Army Club in the match.
Rajbir of Nepalgunj pocketed three wickets, while Aakash Bista took two wickets.
In another match, Birgunj chased 171 runs target in 46.1 overs losing seven wickets. Amit Shrestha (31) Anil Sah (30), Suraj Prasad Kurmi (29), Aanshu Kandoi (28) and Yashin Hawari (22) were major run scorers for Birgunj's win.
Siddhant Lohani bagged highest two wickets for Biratnagar, which was, earlier, bundled out for 170 runs in 32 overs. Mehboob Alam scored 57-runs off 64-balls, hitting a six and five fours. Siddhant (24) and Sunny Pun (27) were other batsmen to contribute with fine shots.
Udit Shrestha picked up three wickets, while Hasim Ansari pocketed two wickets for Birgunj.
