Region No 2 Birgunj and Region No 1 Biratnagar entered the semifinal of the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament as the former defeated Region No 6 Baitadi by 96 runs here today at the TU Cricket Ground.
Baitadi will return home after second straight loss in the three-team Group B while Biratnagar and Birgunj will play the group winner decider on Wednesday.
Birgunj put up the best batting performance in the event so far after being asked to bat first by Deepak Budal. Opener Suraj Timilsina and Anil Mandal patiently added 68 runs giving other batsmen a solid platform. Suraj scored 40 off 57 balls with six boundaries while Anil got 36 off 75.
Later in the innings, man of the match Ram Naresh Yadav shined scoring half-century. He made 57 off 86 balls with five fours and a six adding 43 with Sashi Keshari (18) and 51 with captain Bhusan Yadav. Bhusan remained unbeaten on 24. For Baitadi, Padam KC and Naresh Budair each took two wickets.
Baitadi’s reply began with disaster with captain Deepak failing to complete a run in the second ball of the innings. Padam, who batted brilliantly yesterday, failed to open the scoring making it 7/2.
Sharad Pokharel, who was in the top of his form, bowled brilliantly taking four wickets in his 10 over spell. The Kalaiya-boy who was the part of U-15 Asia Cup winning team give away 32 runs and wrecked the Baitadi batting with his accurate line.
No 10 Chandra Saud should be given full credit for ensuring that his team won’t be bowled out below 100 or lose by three-digit. He played some brilliant straight bat shots for his 36 off 50 balls and remained unbeaten. The other main contributors for the far-western side were Prem Chaudhary (28) and Binod Chhetri (18).
Prem was aggressive and began scoring with a six. He made 28 off 19 balls with two fours and three sixes before being clean-bowled by Sharad. Amit Alok took two for Birgunj while Subash Jaiswal also featured in wicket-takers’ list.