Army could not catch the T20 rhythm and put up only 101 runs losing all the wickets in 19.1 overs but bundled out Baitadi for only 79 runs in 14.5 overs. It was the second consecutive loss for Baitadi in the tournament. Army´s opener Anil Mandal (1 run) and Sagar Pun (13 runs) got out early but Indrakamal Manandhar added 26 runs and Naresh Budhayer scored 25 runs to guide Army to a respectable total. Ramesh Chand claimed four wickets for Baitadi while Basanta Khatri and Prashanta Bista took two wickets each.
Chasing the total, Khatri scored 25 runs and Santosh Bhatta garnered 12 runs for Baitadi but rest of the batsmen failed to reach double-digit scores. Man-of-the-match Rahul Vishwakarma claimed four wickets for the Army. Chandra Saud and Rupesh Shrivastav took two wickets each while Avinash Karna and Pun dismissed one batsman each.
Meanwhile, tournament favorite Nepal APF Club thrashed Region No 7 (Janakpur) by 137 runs. APF elected to bat first and put up 199/5 in allotted 20 overs as opener Paresh Lohani scored 56 runs off 55 balls. He struck six boundaries and a six. Captain Paras Khadka blasted 36 runs off 20 balls while Gyanendra Malla added 33 runs off 21 balls. Sharad Vesawkar clobbered 28 runs off 11 balls.
Janakpur suffered its third defeat in the tournament as it made a paltry 62 runs at the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. Avishek Jha (25 runs) and Harishankar Sah (11 runs) were the top scorer for Janakpur. Man-of-the-match Shakti Gauchan claimed three wickets for APF as his bowling figure was 4-2-4-3. Bhuwan Karki took two wickets while Amrit Bhattarai and Basanta Regmi claimed one wicket each.
The 199 runs scored by APF was the highest total ever by a team in the National T20 tournament. The 195 runs scored by Baitadi against Janakpur last year was the previous record total. Likewise, the 137-run victory is the record win in terms of runs. The 123-run victory of APF against Kathmandu two years ago was the previous record.
Following the record victory, APF has garnered seven points from four matches in the group B of the tournament. APF is on the top of the points table. Birgunj is in the second place following the third consecutive victory while Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) is the third with five points.
Birgunj defeated Nepalgunj by 14 runs on Sunday. Amit Shrestha scored his second consecutive half century as Birgunj put up 143/8. Shrestha scored 54 runs off 56 balls including six boundaries. Hasim Ansari hit 26 runs off 18 balls while Captain Binod Das added 18 runs. Aakash Bista took three wickets for Nepalgunj while Nasir Ansari claimed two.
Captain Subendu Pandey blasted 53 runs off 39 balls but it went in vain as Nepalgunj reached only 129/5 in 20 overs. Pandey hit nine boundaries. Mahesh Chhetri scored 21 runs while Anupam Singh added 20 runs. Jitendra Mukhiya, Kumar Thapa, Irshad Ahemad and Ram Naresh Giri claimed a wicket each for Birgunj.
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