Abhaya Stars in Kathmandu Victory

Despite unconvincing batting performance, Region No 3 Kathmandu pulled off a 20-run victory against Region No 6 Baitadi in the inaugural match of the Shikhar Senior One-Day National Cricket Tournament on Thursday at the TU Cricket Ground.

Batting first, Kathmandu was bowled out for 131 in 32.3 overs with Baitadi pacer Chandra Saud proving lethal. In reply, Baitadi managed only 108 in 38.3 overs in the rain-disrupted match, falling 20 runs short of the revised target of 128 runs in 48 overs.

Man-of-the-match Abhaya Rana was the hero of the Kathmandu victory. The youngster began taking wickets in the first over, getting Uttam Bhatta out for a nought, and finished with an impressive return of 4/24 in 7.3 overs.

He brought down Baitadi to 4/2 by the fifth over and the far-westerners never recovered well. Opener Deepak Malla fought a lone battle scoring 44 off 94 balls before he lost his patience against Raj Shrestha in the 30th over.

Hard-hitting Dhirendra Chand hit a six but was run out after he got 14. Sher Singh Khatri tried to lead the fightback but he found Abhaya too hot to handle and went out for 19 scored off 36 balls with two fours and a maximum. Abhaya was well-supported by Aamir Akhtar who took two. Paras Khadka and Raj each got one.

Earlier, Yashwant Subedi topscored with 33 as Kathmandu batted first in an under-prepared seaming track. He partnered 44 runs with Sharad Vesawkar (17) for the second wicket which was the biggest partnership of the match. Dipen Shrestha (18) and Paras Khadka (13) were the only other batsmen in the star lineup to reach double figure.

Chandra Saud spearheaded the Baitadi bowling with four wickets while Dhirendra got three and his brother Rajendra two. But overall bowling of Baitadi lacked discipline and it gave away 32 extra runs – 29 of which were wides.