KATHMANDU, May 27: Eastern Region has crashed out from the ongoing Prime Minister Cup One Day National Cricket Tournament on Friday.
Eastern's last group stage match against Far-western Region got washed out due to the rain on Friday resulting in both sides sharing one point each. It means that Eastern failed to register a single win in Group B to crash out from the tournament.
Eastern had faced nine wickets defeat at the hands of both Tribhuvan Army Club and Nepal Police Club (NPC) in the previous group matches.
Far-western which has slim chance of making it into the last four also has just one point from two matches. Far-west was beaten by NPC by seven wickets in the first match and now it has one match in hand, which will be played against Army on Saturday.
Meanwhile, NPC which has four points from two group matches advanced to the semifinals. However the group winner is yet to be decided as another team of the group, Army, has two games to play.
In the match played at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur, Far-west won the toss and opted to put bat before making a total of 153 runs in 45.2 overs. In reply Eastern made just 22 runs losing four wickets in four overs before the lunch break. The match couldn't resume after lunch break due to the rain.
Far-west couldn't make decent start to the innings as its openers Surendra Chand and Roshan Nepali could built up a partnership of only 14 runs for the first wicket. Surendra who is also the skipper of the team made just three runs off 18 balls. Likewise, Roshan contributed 10 runs facing 18 balls before being sent to the pavilion in Puspa Thapa's delivery. Bijay Rana who came to bat at fourth number stroked highest 55 runs with the help of two boundaries facing 108 balls before getting dismissed in Puspa's delivery.
Santosh Bhatta struck 22 runs off 46 balls while Anil Kumar made 11 runs facing 22 balls.
Except Roshan, Bijay, Santosh and Anil, none other batsmen touched double digit for Far-west.
Eastern's skipper Puspa Thapa who took three wickets also ducked Bhim Sarki. Puspa was supported by Sagar Dhakal who also claimed three wickets to prevent Far-west from making a decent total. Sagar ducked Krishna Thagunna and also sent Gyanendra Kuwar (9) and Sagar Bhandari (6) to the pavilion. Minash added two more wickets for Eastern.
Meanwhile Far-west made a terrible start to the innings with its openers building just five-run partnership. Bidhan Goswami was ducked while Ankit Subedi made just eight runs with the help of two boundaries facing four balls. None players of Eastern touched double digit. Binod Lama (3-14) and Sagar Bhandari (1-8) shared four wickets between them.
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