Three-time champion Region No 1 Biratnagar’s batting faltered against Region No 3 Kathmandu as the hosts kept alive the hopes of reaching the final with a two-wicket victory in an exciting match of the Birendra Memorial National League Cricket Tournament here today at the TU Cricket Ground.
Biratnagar were restricted for lowly 155/9 in 41 overs of the delay-started match as spinner Raju Basnet bowled a superb spell. Raju, who came into the tournament as the leading wicket-taker, gave away only eight runs in his 9 overs and took four wickets. Biratnagar could have pulled a surprising win if they had done better fielding. But it was Kathmandu who utilized some lousy fielding to complete the run chase with two wickets and eight balls remaining.
Mehboob Alam gave hopes for Biratnagar taking wicket of captain Paresh Lohani in fifth over as he and Manjeet Shrestha, who returned from injury, bowled a tight opening spell. Manjeet nearly made it two but was unlucky as captain Dipendra Chaudhary dropped Sarad Vesawkar’s catch at slip.
Sarad would’ve gone without scoring, but the dropped catch enabled him to play cautiously and it was him who took away the match from Biratnagar’s hand. Sarad scored unbeaten 71 in 92 balls with three fours and two sixes after being dropped again at 48. Ayush Shrestha failed to hold the ball at deep point off Lakpa Lama’s bowling.
Man of the match Sarad, tempted by Lakpa’s slow ball, stepped forward and saw his stumps broken by wicket keeper Manoj Katuwal. His departure left Kathmandu in the tricky situation with 14 more needed for win with two wickets in hand. Abhay Rana (11*) and Deepen Shrestha (4) did the job for them.
Despite ending in a losing side, Lakpa bowled brilliantly to take five wickets. He is third bowler in this year’s league, after Raj Shreshta and Raj Kumar Pradhan, to take five or more wickets. Raj Kumar, who became leading wicket-taker yesterday added two more to extend his lead by two wickets over Raju Basnet, who now has 30.
Earlier, Manoj Katuwal promoted at No 3 topscored with 47 off 92 balls for Biratnagar. He and Anish Aryal (36 in 48 balls) were only two batsmen with worthy contribution. Yashwant Subedi got 21. On Wednesday, Region No 4 Bhairahawa will play Region No 5 Nepalgunj.