Avinash took seven wickets as Birgunj bowled out Bhairahawa for 74 runs in 22.4 overs after scoring 110 in 35.3 overs in the final. [break]
Birgunj, the unbeaten team in the round-robin league, were forced to bat first as Bhairahawa won the toss. Bhairahawa looked successful in their plan as Birgunj could only manage 110. Chandan Jha topscored with 47 runs off 93 balls including three boundaries. He and opener Chakra Prakash (21 off 55) were the only two batsmen to score in double digits and shared a 30-run partnership.
Satish Bhagat was the pick of Bhairahawa´s bowlers with 3/15 while Sushan Bari grabbed two wickets. Nabin Shrestha, Devendra Somare and Bibek Chaudhary each returned with a wicket.
Bhairahawa were probably looking for revenge for the 10-wicket loss in the league but Birgunj proved that they had not bowled them out for 59 in that match on a fluke.
Bhairahawa managed to score better than the league match by getting 74 but that was not enough. Only three batsmen -- Kasam Thapa (17), Prakash KC (11) and Satish (10) -- got double-digit scores.
Avinash picked seven wickets in his eight overs giving away 19 runs. Rajeev Shah picked up two and Gopal Singh got one wicket to end Bhairahawa´s struggle.
It was Birgunj´s second title in the age-group national league after winning the U-19 in March.
Avinash expressed his joy after the victory. "We were confident of winning though we had some worries because of the small total on the board", said Avinash. "It was the first U-16 tournament in the country and we achieved the glory of winning it.´
Bhairahawa´s coach Junga Bahadur Thapa expressed dissatisfaction over the batting performance of his side. "We succeed in wrapping up their innings below 120 runs but our top-order and middle-order batsmen failed to capitalize the opportunity", said Thapa.
Avinash was named man-of-the-final while his teammate Rahul Pratap Singh received the award for man-of-the-series for his 177 runs and 11 wickets during the tournament.
Hari Chaulagain, skipper of Biratnagar, was adjudged best bowler of the event for his 12 wickets while Nepalgunj´s captain Washim Halwai took the award for best batsman for scoring 138 runs in five matches.
Chief guest of the closing ceremony, Minister for Youth and Sports Ganesh Tiwari Nepali, gave away the prizes to the winners.
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