Biratnagar Outplays Nepalgunj

Mehboob Alam produced the first five-wicket haul for Region No 1 Biratnagar in the Shikhar Senior One-Day National Cricket Tournament leaving Region No 5 Nepalgunj high and dry in a Group A match Sunday.

With the mammoth 172-run win, Biratnagar has booked a place in the semifinals from the group.

Mehboob was too hot to handle for Nepalgunj batsmen chasing a reasonable target of 222 runs for victory. In his eight overs, Mehboob conceded 28 runs for five wickets.

Fellow new-ball bowler Manjeet Shrestha played his part in destroying the Nepalgunj line-up. In his six overs, Manjeet took three important wickets for mere nine runs to help bundle out Nepalgunj for 49 runs in 16.4 overs.

Durga Sen was the topscorer and the only batsman to reach double figures with 19 runs. Almost half of the batsmen did not trouble the scorer at all in the sorry run chase.

Nepalgunj is almost out of the tournament with its first match against Birgunj being washed out. Sunday’s performance in which it just managed 49 runs has made the matter worse.

Now Birgunj and Biratnagar will play the last match of the group on Tuesday that will decide the next semifinalist from the group. Nepalgunj, with -3.44 net run rate at the moment can only hope for a much poorer performance from Birgunj to advance any further.

Earlier, Biratnagar skipper Unil Shrestha opted to bat first after winning the toss. His top order did not perform too well either and by the 21st over Biratnagar was down to 83/4.

But wicket-keeper batsman Sunil Bista who got a chance due to the unavailability of Manoj Katuwal, made the most of the opportunity and saved Biratnagar with a splendid half-century. Biratnagar made 221/9 in the allotted 50 overs.

Bista made 52 runs in 72 balls with two hits two the boundary while skipper Unil Shrestha got 14. Ajay Rajbanshi was the other contributor for Biratnagar with 27 runs while Puspa Thapa, promoted at the top of the order, made 24 runs.

Kushal Tuladhar and Manjeet Shrestha made 15 runs each as Biratnagar tail wagged at the right time. Manjeet, in particular, looked to be in a destructive mood and hit two sixes in his 13-ball innings.

Skipper Durga Sen was the most successful bowler for Nepalgunj with three wickets while Nabin Shahi took two wickets.

Mehboob Alam snatched the man-of-the-match award form Sunil Bista who played a responsible innings of 52 runs earlier for Biratnagar.