Skipper Binod Das cleaned up Region No 5 Nepalgunj tail taking four wickets in six balls and followed up with an unbeaten 25 runs to guide Region No 2 Birgunj to a convincing seven wicket win in its last match of the Birendra Memorial National League cricket tournament today.
It was the second win for Birgunj, who finished with six points after five matches. Binod, with today’s wicket became the leading wicket-taker of the event with 29 wicket in 14 matches. Raju Basnet and Raj Kumar Pradhan are second on the list with 26 wickets each. Binod also played the major role in its first win against Baitadi slamming the only century of the tournament.
Opener Kaniska Chaugai scored 25 runs in 15 balls with five boundaries to give Birgunj a brisk start before hooking a short ball to square leg fielder. His partner Bikash Dali continued poor form and was just able to open his account. Pratap Maharjan (12) was the last one to go before Sanjam Regmi (14) and man of the match Binod drove Birgunj home in 19.3 overs.
Binod played 37 balls and hit four boundaries in his innings. For Nepalgunj, Dharma Khatri picked up two wickets while Nasir Ansari claimed one.
Earlier, openers Mahesh Chetri and Manoj Baisya played out the opening spell from Binod and gave a reasonably good start for Nepalgunj. Mahesh fell to Rajiv Shrestha for 9 while his partner played till the 25th over and topscored with fighting 25 runs. Anupam Singh played well for his 14 runs before falling to Binod who returned with purpose in his third spell to bundle Nepalgunj after being denied earlier.
From 83/6 Binod wrapped up Nepalgunj tail within 89 runs in 35.2 overs and was twice on a hattrick. He would get a chance to complete his hattrick when he will play next year’s edition. Apart from Binod, Sashi Keshari bowled his leg spin with superb control and claimed three top-order wickets.
“Personally, it was a satisfying tournament but the team did not perform well as we have thought,” said Binod. “Even today, we should have won the match more convincingly.” Region no 3 Kathmandu will face last year’s finalist Region No 4 Bhairawa on Saturday.