Acting Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal awards Sharad Vesawkar man of the match as CAN vice-president Upendra Prasad Bhattarai looks on.
Kathmandu set up the final with defending champions Bhairahawa as the repeat of last year’s final with a 72-run victory over Nepalgunj at the TU Cricket Ground.
Region No 3 Kathmandu scored 152 in 48.4 overs before bowling out Region No 5 Nepalgunj for 80 runs in 38.1 overs. Yesterday, Region No 2 Bhairahawa had defeated Region No 1 Biratnagar in the first semifinal.
When the final will be played on Saturday it would be an opportunity for Kathmandu to avenge the seven-wicket loss it had suffered last year in the final.
On Friday, Nepalgunj won the toss and elected to first. Kathmandu lost Dipen Shrestha quickly brining in Sharad Vesawkar. Vesawkar looked in a good touch scoring 25 runs off 31 balls with three fours but he was caught by Deep Raj Shakya off Nasir Ansari making it 39/2.
Subash Khakurel (13) followed soon bowled by Nasir before Gyanendra Malla along with captain Paras Khadka partnered 46 runs for fourth wicket. Paras was stumped by Ganesh Chhetri off Subendu Pandey for 31 off 31 balls while Gyanendra ensured Kathmandu cross the three-digit mark before being stumped off Sandeep Shrestha for 25.
Subendu then added two more while Sahid Riza got one as Kathmandu went down to 122/8 from 92/3. Abhaya Rana scored 21 off 30 balls to get his team past 150 and was the last man out bowled by Naveen Shahi.
The target was achievable and Nepalgunj camp knew it. But they required a good batting from top order to achieve the target but failed on that front.
Apart from Deep Raj 920) and Subendu (14), no other batsmen could reach the doubel-digit score and the whole team were bowled out for 80 runs in 38.1 overs. Ritesh Singh and man of the match Sharad each took three wickets while Raj Shrestha got two.
Brief Score: Kathmandu 152 in 48.4 overs (P Khadka 31, S Vesawkar 25, G Malla 25, S Pandey 3/40) defeated Nepalgunj 80 in 38.1 overs (D Shakya 20, R Singh 3/13, S Vesawkar 3/12) by 72 runs.
Photo by Nepal Photo Agency