Winning the semifinal that lasted less than three hours, Region No 3 Kathmandu defeated Region No 2 Birgunj in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament here today at the TU Cricket Ground.
Supported by some fantastic bowling, Kathmandu ended Birgunj’s innings in 18.4 overs when the scoreboard was reading 51. Pacers Bantu Bataju and Paras Khadka each took three wickets while Avaya Rana and spinner Raj Shrestha shared the rest.
Kathmandu’s reply was not easier. They took 21.4 overs to complete the victory and lost five wickets in the course – three to left-arm spinner Suraj Timilsina who finished with 10 wickets in three matches.
Dipen Shrestha and Sarad Vesawkar gave a good start for Kathmandu adding 20 runs but once Sarad edged Puspa Thapa’s delivery to keeper Diwas Thakuri, things looked tougher. Sunam Gautam just opened his account and was bowled while trying to cut an incoming delivery from Suraj.
Gyanenedra Malla (7) and Paskas Khadka (4) both fell to Suraj while Dipen, the only Kathmandu batsman to reach double figure, was caught by Suraj off Sashi Keshari. He made 11 from 49 balls. Sujin Adhikari and Raj Shrestha added unbeaten 12 to take the team home.
Earlier, Birgunj batsmen failed miserably after being invited to bat first on the grassy pitch. Suraj and Anil Mandal opened the innings scoring 12 each and adding 17 in 4 overs before the former fell victim to Avaya. Kaniska Chaugai just played two balls and edged.
A combination of opening bowling from Bantu and Avaya gave Kathmandu the first five wickets while captain Paras and Raj bowled 40 balls to end off the innings. Paras was adjudged man of the match.
Region No 1 Biratnagar and Region No 4 Bhairahawa will play the other semifinal on Friday to book a spot in Sunday’s final.