Biratnagar, Bhairahawa register victories

REPUBLICA, June 4: Region No 1 Biratnagar registered their second consecutive win of the tournament as they defeated Region No 6 Baitadi by six wickets in the ongoing Springwood National T-20 Cricket Tournament held at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur. [break]



With the win, Biratnagar joined Region No 3 Kathmandu to stay atop the standings with four points each. Earlier, in the first match of the day, Region No 4 Bhairahawa beat Region No 5 Nepalgunj by 33 runs to open the account with two points out of two matches played.



Opting to bat first, Baitadi made 100 runs losing all wickets with one ball remaining of the stipulated 20 overs. Binod Bhandari (19), Naresh Budhayer (19), Pradeep Ayree (18) were the only players to reach double figures. Ajay Rajbanshi, skipper Manjeet Shrestha and Mehboob Alam claimed three wickets each while Niraj Chhetri dismissed one batsman for Biratnagar.



Chasing the target, Biratnagar scored 103 runs with nine balls to spare losing only four wickets. In the run chase, Biratnagar lost openers Mehboob Alam (07) and Bivek Jha (13) cheaply. Alam was run out while Jha was caught by Prashant Bista off Dhirendra Chaudhary.



Puspha Thapa and Ajay Rajbanshi´s 38 run partnership for the fourth wicket gave Biratnagar a new life which was tottering with 3/40. Pushpa Thapa contributed 33 off 41 balls with two boundaries and a six before being caught by Prem Budal. Ajay Rajbanshi (25) and skipper Manjeet (12) remained unbeaten. Baitadi skipper Dhirendra Chand, Chandra Saud and Prem Budal picked one wicket each.



Rajbanshi was declared man of the match.



Earlier, in the first match of the day, batting first after winning the toss, Bhairahawa set 122 runs victory target to Nepalgunj losing five wickets.



Opener batsman Sagar Pun (03) and skipper third order batsman Shakti Gauchan (01) of Bhairahawa had an early exit. But another opener Manoj Baishya (20) and man-of-the-match Basanta Regmi (52) played a partnership of 76 runs for the third wicket to consolidate Bhairahawa´s inning. Regmi struck two fours and sixes each in his inning before being bowled out by Sunil Sunwar. Rahul Kumar BK (15) and Antim Thapa (22) were unbeaten while Aakash Gupta was out for a duck.



Nasir Ansari and Sunil Sunwar dismissed two batsmen each while Ranjit Sijapati claimed one wicket for Nepalgunj.



For Nepalgunj, Mahesh Chhetri (21), Tajuddin Halwai (15) and Subendru Pandy (17) were the only players to manage double digit figures. Nepalgunj that lost fifth wicket for 68 runs in 14.3 overs saw the fall of remaining five wickets for just 20 runs.



Aakash Gupta, who failed in batting, cherished with the ball and sent three batsmen of Nepalgunj to the pavilion while Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul Kumar BK, Lal Bahadur Adhikari and Shakti Gauchan claimed one scalps each.

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