KATHMANDU, Oct 21: Kabita Gautam’s picked up three wickets and conceding five runs off her three overs to seal Chitwan Rhinos’ fourth win of the tournament against Biratnagar Titans by 53 runs in the ongoing Women’s Champions League (WCL) at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Sunday.
Chasing the total of 123 runs, Titans were bundled out for 69 runs.
Rhinos remained unbeaten reaching the final match by virtue of winning the league stage.
Gautam broke the Titans chase dismissing Sharmila Magar, Asmina Karmacharya and skipper Sarita Magar for duck, six runs and a run respectively.
Titans were eventually dismissed for 69 runs in 17.5 overs. National cricket team members Jyoti Pandey and Dolly Bhatt scored 21 runs each off 19 and 21 deliveries in the losing cause.
None of the other batswomen was able to score double-digit figures.
Similarly, Suman Khatiwada picked up two wickets whereas Rekha Rawal, Santoshi Chuadhari and Ritu Kanoujiya chipped in with a wicket each.
Spirited Kat Queens challenge unbeaten Rhinos for WCL trophy
Earlier, Rhinos won the toss and elected to bat first. Opening batsmen Kajal Shrestha and Kanchan Shrestha shared a partnership of 69 runs to put Rhinos in a driving seat of the match.
Kajal scored 36 runs off 46 deliveries which included two boundaries whereas Kanchan smashed six boundaries during her 41-ball 34 runs. Skipper Indu Verma stayed unbeaten on 17 runs as Rhinos posted 122 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.
Sabnam Rai picked up two wickets and Sonu Khadka, Sharmila Magar and Aarati Bidari took wicket each.
Pokhara Paltan and Lalitpur Falcons have crashed out of the contentions with a dead-rubber match to be played on Monday.
Nepal national team skipper Rubina Chhetri continued her run-scoring spree registering another unbeaten half-century in Kat Queens Kathmandu’s third win in the group stage defeating Lalitpur Falcons by eight wickets.
Kat Queens completed the chase in 17.2 overs with eight wickets at hand.
With the win, Kat Queens has jumped to second on the points table and will face Biratnagar Titans in the Eliminator on Tuesday.
The winner of the match will face unbeaten Chitwan Rhinos in the final match on Thursday.
Player-of-the-match Chhetri remained unbeaten on 59 runs off 52 deliveries including nine boundaries and a six and shared a partnership of 34 runs with opening batter Rashmi Chaulagain who contributed nine runs.
Similarly, she shared a partnership of 48 runs with Roma Thapa who scored 18 runs off 23 deliveries including two boundaries. Lastly, skipper completed the chase with an unbeaten partnership of 24 runs with Apsari Begum.
Samjhana Khadka and Alisha KC shared a wicket each for Falcons in the match. Falcons is winless in the three matches so far.
Earlier, Falcons had won the toss and elected to bat first before getting limited to 105 runs off 20 overs losing five wickets.
Ishwori Bist picked up two wickets to keep the Falcons batter in check throughout the first innings.
Bohora Roshni top scored with 29 runs off 50 deliveries for Falcons which included two boundaries.
Likewise, Falcons skipper Nary Thapa scored 22 runs off 19 deliveries including four boundaries before being excellently caught and bowled by Saraswati Kumari. Mamta Chaudhary and Gita Gosai chipped in with 15 and 13 runs respectively.
