Region No 3 Kathmandu proved too strong as they won the Pepsi U-15 Cricket Tournament remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament and defeating Region No 4 Bhairahawa comprehensively by 56 runs in the final.
The live-telecasted final became lopsided despite Kathmandu scoring only 139/8 in allotted 40 overs. Ritesh Singh played a pivotal role scoring 65 whie Nirmal Karki and Rakesh Barai each grabbed three wickets.
To wreck Bhairahawa’s reply Nasim Akhtar once again proved his class by taking three for six runs to bowl out the opponents for 83 runs in 30.5 overs. The highest score was made by Sagar Pun – 16.
In semifinal too, Kathmandu bowling had proved too strong as they bowled out Region No 2 Birgunj for 51 runs in 17 overs with Bijay Gautam and Akhtar each taking four wickets. Akhtar also came good in batting with 12 runs as Kathmandu won the match by four wickets surviving early losses.
In other semifinal, Bhairahawa had pegged down Region No 1 Biratnagar by four wickets. Biratnagar socred 110 in 39.4 overs – thanks to Rabin Pyakurel’s 24. But it was Rishikesh Sharma who shone in the innings taking 5/26.
Bhairahawa scored the required run sin 27 overs losing six wickets. Sagar got 41 while Nischal Chaudhary got 33. Ashish Singh took three wickets.
Somesh Yadav of Biratnagar was awarded best batsman while Bibek Dali of Birgunj got best bowler award. Nasim Akhtar was awarded man of the series.
FINAL: November 6 @ TU Ground
Region No 3 Kathmandu 139/8 (Ritesh Singh 65, Nirmal Karki 3/21, Rakesh Barai 3/34, Rishikesh Sharma 2/20) defeated Region No 4 Bhairahawa 83 all out in 30.5 overs (Sagar Pun 16, Nasim Akhtar 3/6, Rajesh Singh 2/17, Rochak Bhatt 2/20) by 56 runs. MoM: Ritesh Singh
SEMIFINALS: November 4
At Region No 1 Biratnagar 110 all out in 39.4 overs (Rabin Pyakurel 24, Rishikesh Sharma 5/26, Rakesh Barai 3/14) lost to Region No 4 Bhairahawa 113/6 in 27 overs (Sagar Pun 41, Nischal Chaudhary 33, Ashish Singh 3/28) by 4 wickets. MoM: Rishikesh Singh
Region No 2 Birgunj 51 in 17 overs (Akash Pariyar 13, Bijay Gautam 4/4, Nasim Akhtar 4/18) lost to Region No 3 Kathmandu 52/6 in 19 overs (Nasim Akhtar 12, Bibek Dali 4/23) by 4 wickets. MoM: Nasim Akhtar
LEAGUE MATCHES: October 29 to November 3 @ IOE
Region No 3 Kathmandu 171/9 (Prajesh Singh 26, Raju Thapa 22*, Ritesh Singh 21, Sunil Tamang 4/28) defeated Region No 6 Baitadi 169 in 36.4 overs (Bhuwan Karki 66, Pradeep Airee 44, Nasim Akhtar 4/29, Bijay Gautam 3/17) by 2 runs. MoM: Bhuwan Karki
Region No 3 Kathmandu 159/9 (Ashiq Sharma 66, Bijay Gautam 27, Prakash Pandey 2w, Anish Agrawal 2w) lost to Region No 1 Biratnagar 160/7 in 34.1 overs (Deepak Sharma 42*, Nirjal Chhetri 41, Nasim Akhtar 3w, Ritesh Singh 3w) by three wickets. MoM: Deepak Sharma
Region No 1 Biratnagar 230/2 (Somesh Yadav 68*, Sany Pun 64, Pashupati Mandal 48) defeated Region No 6 Baitadi 163 in 40 overs (Pradeep Airee 45, Gokul Joshi 40, Nirjal Chhetri 3/21, Ashish Singh 3/23, Deepak Sharma 2/30) by 67 runs. MoM: Sany Pun
Region No 2 Birgunj 175/4 (Robin Gurung 69, Sameer Nepal 42) defeated Region No 4 Bhairahawa 164 in 39.3 overs (Krishna Sen 28, Rakesh Barai 27, Himal Shires 24, Bikbek Dali 5/23) by 11 runs. MoM: Bibek Dali
Region No 2 Birgunj 151 in 39.2 overs (Sameer Nepal 37, Robin Gurung 22, Dinesh KC 4/12, Sharad Marasini 3/30, Ajay Rasaili 2/26) defeated Region No 5 Nepalgunj 94 in 30 overs (Rupesh Sharma 40, Bibek Dali 5/35) by 57 runs. MoM: Bibek Dali
Region No 4 Bhairahawa 187 in 39.4 overs (Sagar Pun 63, Kriten Gurung 30, Rishikesh Sharma 23, Ramesh Pun 4/16, Ajay Rasaili 3/32) defeated Region No 5 Nepalgunj 144/9 (Rupesh Sharma 41, Sahil Narsingh Rana 22, Nirmal Karki 2/23, Krishna Sen 2/25) by 43 runs. MoM: Sagar Pun
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