Rain played spoil sport on the second day of the Shikhar Senior Two-day National Cricket match between Region No 4 Bhairahwa and region No 5 Nepalgunj at the Siddartha Stadium as the game was washed out on the second day.
Host Bhairahwa was in commanding position at the close of play on day one reducing Nepalgunj to 54/8 in 30 overs in response to its 275/8 in 60 overs.
Hosts Region No 4 Bhairahawa dominated the first day of the Shikhar Senior Two-Day National League Cricket Tournament match against Region No 5 Nepalgunj at the Siddartha Stadium on Saturday.
On the first day, Bhairahawa scored 275/8 in its first innings before the mandatory declaration in 60 overs and bowled brilliantly to bring down Nepalgunj to 54/8 in 30 overs with an overall lead of 221 runs. At stumps, Nirmal KC was unbeaten on 19 and Akash Shakya on two for Nepalgunj.
Bhairahawa innings was anchored by Shakti Gauchan who had scored a century in the earlier match against Baitadi. He scored 80 runs off 116 balls with 14 fours.
Despite losing Dipen Shakya (13) early, Shakti added 62 runs with Dipesh Khatri (28) and 89 runs with Basanta Regmi (30). Apart from them, Amit Shrestha (25), Manoj Baishya (22) and Bijay Thapa (19*) also got some runs for Bhairahawa.
For Nepalgunj, Durga Sen, Sammu Khan and Bharat Dangi each took two wickets while two of the batsmen were run out.
Nepalgunj’s reply was forgettable as it lost first six wickets for 26 runs in 15.4 overs. Dipesh and Bijay each took two while two batsmen were run out. Later, Rishikesh Sharma claimed two to make it 46/8. On the first day, Bhairahawa gathered 9.5 bonus points while Nepalgunj got five.
Similarly, the match between Region No 1 Biratnagar and Region No 6 Baitadi at Kalaiya Cricket Ground and Region No 2 Birgunj and Region No 3 Kathmandu at Birgunj Cricket Ground were also washed out without a ball being bowled. All four teams received 10 bonus points from the game.
Baitadi is still leading the points table with 50.5 points from three matches while Birgunj is second with 37.5 points from two games. Biratnagar is third with 34.5 from three matches followed by Bhairahawa (21.5 points from two matches), Kathmandu (18.5 points from two games) and Nepalgunj (15 points from two matches).
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has postponed further matches of the events due to technical reasons.