Raj Kumar Pradhan became the leading wicket-taker of the Birendra Memorial National League cricket tournament claiming five wickets on Monday for the defending champion Region No 1 Biratnagar’s 130-run win over Region No 5 Nepalgunj here at the TU Cricket Ground.
Leg spinner Raj Kumar took his total tally to 31 wickets – two more than Binod Das as his team packed up Nepalgunj for 113 runs in 36 overs. Nepalgunj were chasing Biratnagar’s huge 243/7 scored in 41 overs.
It was skipper Dipendra Chaudhary, Unil Shrestha and Ratan Rauniyar who earlier set the stage for the bowlers. Their partnership ensured Biratnagar amass sixth highest score in the tournament history and defeat the minnows.
It was a hard day for Nepalgunj who chose to field first. The decision looked advantageous when Yashwant Subedi went in the second over without scoring and Anish Aryal in the fourth for three runs. Mehboob, however, showed a bit of his hitting skills scoring 29 off 27 balls with three fours and a six. When he returned, bowled by Dharma Khatri on the last ball of eighth over, Biratnagar were struggling at 38/3.
Dipendra then blasted Nepalgunj bowling while Unil played patiently. Dipendra scored 63 off 45 deliveries hitting nine fours and two sixes before edging Tajuddin Halwai. He added 83 with Unil, who stayed for record partnership with Ratan.
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Ratan, though only hit two boundaries, scored quickly and made 40 off 48 balls. Unil remained unbeaten until the end scoring 78 runs. He played 93 balls and hit four boundaries. Mehraj Ansari took three wickets but was very expensive giving away 52 runs in his 6 overs. Dharma too claimed three wickets.
Nepalgunj had a reasonably good start chasing the total. They lost opener Shahid Riza in the second over but then Biratnagar waited until 14th over for the second wicket. Nepalgunj played slowly; opener Manoj Baishya took 44 balls to score 2 runs. But once Lakpa Lama and Raj Kumar started operating, the wickets started falling at regular interval.
Lakpa took two giving away only 9 runs in his 8 overs while Raj Kumar became the only third person in the history to take five or more wickets. He gave away 42 runs for his five. Mehboob then castled two tailenders in a over to complete the emphatic victory.