Baitadi, Birgunj to vie for U-19 title

KATHMANDU, April 24: Region No 6 Baitadi has set up a title clash with Region No 2 Birgunj in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament.



Baitadi defeated defending champion Region No 4 Bhairahawa by two wickets in the last league match on Tuesday to secure a final berth on the basis of net run rate. Bhairahawa, Baitadi and Janakpur had equal four points from three matches.[break]



In the match played at the TU Ground, Kirtipur, Baitadi invited Bhairahawa to bat first and restricted the latter to 83 runs in 30 overs with a five-wicket haul from Binod Lama. Lama conceded only nine runs in his nine overs. Yagya Man Kumal and Dipendra Airee claimed two wickets each.



Sabin Ratna Shakya was the highest scorer for Bhairahawa with 15 runs off 22 balls. Krishna Sen (11) was the other batsman to reach double figures. Bhairahawa received 25 runs as extras.



Baitadi successfully chased the target of 84 runs in 27.2 overs with two wickets in hand. Santosh Bhatta scored 24 runs off 38 balls with two boundaries. Binod Lama remained not out on 15 runs off 31 balls with three boundaries.



Ikhlaq Ahmed Warsi took four wickets for Bhairahawa but it was not enough for victory. Devendra Somare, Sushan Bhari and Bivek Chaudhary shared a wicket each.



In the match played at the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk, Region No 7 Janakpur registered a 66-run victory over Region No 5 Nepalgunj. Winning the toss Janakpur scored 155 runs losing all the wickets in 31.3 overs.



Abhishek Jha scored an unbeaten 32 runs off 54 balls with a boundary. Rahul Pratap Singh´s knock of 26 runs from 29 balls included two boundaries.



Amar Singh Rautela grabbed four wickets for Nepalgunj while Afak Sheikh took two wickets. Nepalgunj bowlers gave away 20 runs as extras.



Chasing the target of 156 runs, Nepalgunj was bowled out for 89 runs in 23.5 overs as Mukesh Jha took a five-wicket haul. Sameer Nepal took two wickets while Gopal Singh, Pradeep Sapkota and Abhishek Jha shared a wicket each.



Prajwal Shahi scored 29 runs off 39 balls with two boundaries and Afak Sheikh scored 21 runs off 23 balls with four boundaries.

Related story

Desperate search for missing girls as nearly 80 dead in Texas f...