Armed Police Force (APF) Club and Region No 6 (Baitadi) registered consecutive victories on the second day of the tournament to remain on top of pool A and B respectively, while Region No 8 (Pokhara) beat Region No 5 Nepalgunj on Monday.[break]
Bhairahawa, which had lost to APF on Sunday, elected to bat against Kathmandu at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground, Lalitpur and scored 159/7 in 20 overs. Pun and Fajlur Rahman Khan (26 runs off 16 balls) put up a 75-run opening stand. Pun struck 50 runs off 35 balls including eight boundaries and one above the fence. Khan hit three on the fence and one over the fence.
Dipendra Lamghade of Region No 4 Bhairahawa. (Photo: Bikash Karki)
Kathmandu claimed a couple of wickets in the middle but Subash Pradhan (29 runs off 20 balls) and Krishna Karki (33 runs off 25 balls) chipped in to guide Bhairahawa to a competitive total. Karki smashed two sixes, while Pradhan clobbered two boundaries and a six.
In reply, Kathmandu could manage only 147/8 in 20 overs as Pun dismissed five batsmen. Lal Bahadur Adhikari got rid of two Kathmandu batsmen to seal the 13-run victory. Pramod Basnet top scored for Kathmandu with a 20-ball 39 while Indra Kamal Manandhar made 31 runs off 27 balls. Pun was adjudged man-of-the-match.
Bhairahawa is in third position with two points from two matches in pool A. Region No 1 (Biratnagar) also has two points but its net run rate is superior than Bhairahawa. Kathmandu is in the fourth place without any points. APF has the top position in the pool as it beat Region No 2 (Birgunj) by five wickets to push the latter to the bottom.
Birgunj elected to bat and put up 112/6 in 20 overs as Shiva Tandukar remained unbeaten with 32 runs off 20 balls. Opener Amit Shrestha scored 29 off 37 balls, while Hasim Ansari added 25 runs off 23 balls. Basant Regmi claimed two wickets while Amrit Bhattarai, Sunam Gautam, Shakti Gauchan and Rom Shrestha took a wicket each.
In reply, APF opener Subash Khakurel smacked 50 runs off 38 balls to guide the team to 115/5 in 15.1 overs. Man-of-the-match Khakurel slapped six boundaries and two sixes. Skipper Paras Khadka remained unbeaten with 20 runs off six balls. Kumar Thapa claimed three wickets while Avinash Karn grabbed two wickets for Birgunj.
Meanwhile, Baitadi thrashed Region No 7 (Janakpur) by 87 runs at the TU Cricket Ground in the pool B match.
Man-of-the-match Binod Bhandari played a blistering knock of 82 runs off 46 balls and Prem Tamang added 44 runs off 48 balls to guide Baitadi to 195/5 in 20 overs. Openers Bhandari and Roshan Nepal (22 runs off 14 balls) put up a 57-run first wicket partnership.
Bhandari, then, batted along side Tamang to put up 97-run second wicket partnership. Bhandari struck nine boundaries and four sixes. Samir Nepal claimed three wickets for Janakpur but it was too late as Bhandari and Tamang had already done the most of the damage.
Chasing the mammoth total, Janakpur was bowled out for 108 runs in 17 overs. Kumar Prasoon (not out 35) was the top scorer for Janakpur while Anil Mandal (30 runs off 19 balls) was the second highest contributor. Binod Lama dismissed four Janakpur batsmen while Chandra Saud and Bhuwan Karki claimed two wickets each to seal the match.
Baitadi has four points from two matches and remains on the top of the pool B table. It was consecutive second defeat for Janakpur in the tournament and the team remains at the bottom of the table. Meanwhile, Pokhara beat Nepalgunj by 46 runs to remain in the second place with two points. Nepalgunj, which defeated Janakpur on Sunday, remains in the third position with two points.
Deepesh Khatri scored 51 runs off 44 balls and Amrit Shrestha remained unbeaten with 29 runs off 18 balls to guide Pokhara to 150/7 in 20 overs. Prajjwal Shahi and Rizwan Ansari claimed two wickets each for Nepalgunj.
Mahesh Chhetri struck 58 runs off 48 balls and Amar Routela scored 20 runs off 18 balls for Nepalgunj but rest of the batsmen failed to score in double figures as Nepalgunj could reach only 104/8 in 20 overs. Rahul BK took four wickets for Pokhara. Deepesh Khatri, who scored half-century and claimed a wicket for Pokhara, was adjudged man-of-the-match.
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