Region No5 Nepalgunj suffer another heavy defeat against mightly Region No 1 Biratnagar in the last of the league match of ongoing second Birendra Memorial National League Cricket Championship.
Biratnagar received a huge boost for the final, on February 23, against Region No 3 Kathmandu following their emphatic 193-run win.
The Friday’s convincing win also guarantied a bonus point for Biratnagar, which means if the rain affects the Sunday’s final, Biratnagar would be the winners on better run rate and points of the league matches. Biratnagar gathered 16 points in the league phases while Kathmandu acquired 14.
Biratnagar made mammoth 252 runs in 45 overs for the loss of five wickets while Nepalgunj could only manage 59 runs in 26.3 overs.
Biratnagar skipper Dipendra Chaudhary won the toss and opted to bat first and his decision of batting proved right when the opening pair Mehaboob Alam (37) and Yaswant Subedi (14) added 53 runs for the first-wicket partnership. The big-hitting Alam belted five boundaries and a huge sixer off medium pacer Rajendra Chand’s third over.
Chaudhary played a captain’s knock chipping in with 56 runs off 80 balls before being trapped by Arvinda Karn. Chaudhary and reliable Unil Shrestha added 100 runs for the third wicket stand. Shrestha belted five boundaries in his 73-balls 57 runs. Allrounder Paras Luniya demonstrated some bazooka hitting in the later part of the innings as he accelerated the score making 45 runs off just 30 balls. He remained unbeaten.
No bowlers introduced by Nepalgunj captain Arun Thapa bowled well as they conceded 36 extra runs in an innings. Youngster Irfan Siddhiqui also failed to impress giving away 41 runs in seven overs. Arvinda Karn, Dhirendra Chand and Arun Thapa picked up a wicket apiece.
Nepalgunj’s poor day continued even in their batting as most of them just threw the wickets to discipline Biratnagar bowling attack. Man of the match Alam send two top-order Nepalgunj batsmen to the pavilion in his opening six-over spell. He conceded six runs and bowled three maiden overs. Lakpa Lama, though not doing well with the ball, fielded exceptionally well to get rid from Nepalgunj stars Arun Thapa and Rohit Sharma as both the batsmen fell short of their crease.
Dhirendra Chand, in the middle, stayed a bit longer but off-spinner Aayus Shrestha removed him after showing a brilliant catch in his own bowling. Leg-spinner Rajkumar Pradan did rest of the job picking three Nepalgunj tailenders within seven deliveries. Lama also claimed the wicket of Dhan Bahadur Chettri.
Points Table
| Teams | Matches | W | L | NR | Points | Net Run Rate |
| Biratnagar | 4 | 3 | – | 1 | 16 | 1.186 |
| Kathmadnu | 4 | 2 | – | 2 | 14 | 1.265 |
| Bhairahawa | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0.853 |
| Birgunj | 4 | – | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.164 |
| Nepalgunj | 4 | – | 3 | 1 | 2 | -2.758 |