National captain Binod Das played a match-winning knock as Region No 2 Birgunj defeated Region No 1 Biratnagar to enter the semifinals of the Shikhar Senior One-Day National Cricket Tournament at the TU Cricket Ground.
Binod scored 42 as Birgunj chased a victory target of 136 in 48.2 overs with two wickets in hand. When the skipper entered the ground, Birgunj was 40/3 and when he was out as the last man to be dismissed, Birgunj needed just 11 runs off 34 balls.
Opener Pratap Maharjan played an important knock of 36 runs that included three fours and two sixes. Pratap added 24 runs with Binod before giving a return catch to Lakpa Lama.
Lakpa also got Diwas Thakuri as Birgunj got into trouble at 70/5 but the captain was there to play the winning knock and before Mehboob Alam got him as his second wicket, he had already paved way for an easy victory to enter the semifinals.
Rajeev Shrestha (12) and Sanjam Regmi (10) too contributed for the victors. Lakpa and Mehboob got two wickets each while Manjeet Shrestha, Santosh Baral and Bhawesh Thapa also took a wicket each.
Earlier, Biratnagar chose to bat first and made 135 runs in 44 overs. It was in deep trouble by the 32nd over at 88/8 but No 10 Santosh Baral scored 21 off 23 balls with a six to get it to a respectable total. Kusal Tuladhar topscored with 25 runs while Ratan Rauniyar (19), Sunil Bista (14) and Puspa Thapa (12) got a few runs.
For Birgunj, off-spinner Sanjam Regmi spearheaded the bowling taking 3/21 while Kumar Prasun too got three. Sanjog Karna grabbed two wickets as Binod and Raj Mohammad claimed one each.
On Wednesday, Group A winner Birgunj plays Group B runner-up Region No 3 Kathmandu in the first semifinal while Biratnagar plays the second semifinal against Region No 4 Bhairahawa on Thursday.
| Biratnagar Vs Birgunj |
| Played At Tribhuvan University Ground, Kirtipur, 19-Jun-2007, One-Day National League |
| Birgunj Win by 2 wkts |
| Round | Leagu |
| Toss won by | Biratnagar |
| Umpires | VK Jha & R Siwakoti |
| Scorers | D Gyawali & A Pradhan |
| Player / Match | RN2:Das, Binod |
| Points Awarded | Biratnagar 0, Birgunj 3 |
| Biratnagar 135 All Out (Overs 44) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| P Thapa | c A Mandal | b S Karn | 12 | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| P Das | lbw | b B Das | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| R Rauniyar | lbw | b R Mohammad | 19 | 37 | 0 | 0 |
| M Alam | c D Thakuri | b S Karn | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Y Shrestha* | lbw | b S Regmi | 10 | 45 | 0 | 0 |
| S Bista+ | lbw | b S Regmi | 14 | 39 | 1 | 0 |
| K Tuladhar | b K Prasuna | 25 | 62 | 2 | 0 | |
| L Lama | c A Mandal | b S Regmi | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| M Shrestha | c Maharjan,P | b K Prasuna | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| S Baral | c B Das | b K Prasuna | 21 | 23 | 0 | 1 |
| B Thapa | not out | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b2 lb1 w17 nb1) | 21 | ||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 135 |
| FOW1-5(P Das) 2-24(P Thapa) 3-36(M Alam) 4-57(R Rauniyar) 5-79(Y Shrestha)6-82(S Bista) 7-87(L Lama) 8-88(M Shrestha) 9-134(S Baral) 10-135(K Tuladhar) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| B Das | 9 | 3 | 12 | 1 |
| R Shrestha | 4 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| S Karn | 5 | 0 | 29 | 2 |
| R Mohammad | 9 | 1 | 29 | 1 |
| S Regmi | 7 | 3 | 21 | 3 |
| K Prasuna | 10 | 1 | 28 | 3 |
| Birgunj 136/8 (Overs 48.1) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| Maharjan,P | c&b L Lama | 36 | 63 | 3 | 2 | |
| B Dali | lbw | b M Alam | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| A Mandal | run out P Thapa | 6 | 19 | 0 | 0 | |
| S Wonjam | c S Bista | b S Baral | 4 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| B Das* | c Y Shrestha | b M Alam | 42 | 89 | 2 | 1 |
| D Thakuri | c B Thapa | b L Lama | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| S Regmi | c&b B Thapa | 10 | 18 | 0 | 0 | |
| R Shrestha | b M Shrestha | 12 | 49 | 0 | 0 | |
| R Mohammad | not out | 8 | 25 | 0 | 0 | |
| K Prasuna | not out | 4 | 12 | 1 | 0 | |
| extras | (b1 lb1 w12 nb0) | 14 | ||||
| TOTAL | 8 wickets for | 136 |
| FOW1-1(B Dali) 2-17(A Mandal) 3-40(S Wonjam) 4-64(Maharjan,P) 5-70(D Thakuri)6-86(S Regmi) 7-116(R Shrestha) 8-125(B Das) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| M Alam | 10 | 2 | 21 | 2 |
| M Shrestha | 10 | 2 | 30 | 1 |
| S Baral | 4.1 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| K Tuladhar | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| P Thapa | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| L Lama | 10 | 2 | 19 | 2 |
| B Thapa | 5 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| R Rauniyar | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 |