Captain Shakti Gauchan guided Region No 4 Bhairahawa into the final of the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament with a 55-run victory over Region No 2 Birgunj at the Lab School Ground on Wednesday.
Shakti scored unbeaten 72 as the defending champion posted 198/8 in the 42-over match before Birgunj was bowled out for 143 in 39 overs. In the other match, Region No 3 Kathmandu thrashed four-time champion Region No 1 Biratnagar by 147 runs.
Birgunj captain Binod Das gave his team a good start with a wicket in the first ball as Basanta Regmi skied one to Binay Sah at long-on. It was Binod’s 50th wicket in the national league and he became the second player after Raju Basnet to reach the landmark.
He then added two more while Sameer Thapa and Sanjam Regmi also grabbed two each as Bhairahawa went down to 74/7 in 20 overs. But then, Shakti turned the tables on Birgunj partnering 54 with Amrit Bhattarai, who hit 29 off 41 balls with two fours and two sixes.
Sagar Khadka, who had earlier went out of the field after sustaining injury on forehead hit by Binod’s delivery, came back to add unbeaten 68 with his captain to take the team to a good total. Sagar got 16 while Shakti hit eight fours and two sixes in his 89-ball knock.
Birgunj did not start well losing Suraj Timilsina in the second over and never recovered. In 12 overs, it was 53/5 needing heroics of opener Anil Mandal who was looking good. Anil got 50 of 81 balls with six fours but was undone by an arm ball from left-arm spinner Basanta to put Birgunj at 93/6.
Raj Mohammad (25) and Binod Das (18) tried to fight but it got all out for 143. Amrit took three wickets to cap an excellent day while Faizal Khan, Basanta and Rahul BK each took two wickets.
| Round | Leagu |
| Toss won by | Bhairahawa |
| Umpires | Biswo Sagar Pokharel & Magilal Sharma |
| Scorers | Narayan Khadka |
| Player / Match | RN4:Gauchan, Shakti |
| Points Awarded | Bhairahawa 3, Birgunj 0 |
| Bhairahawa Innings 198/8 (Overs 42) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| B Regmi | c B Sah | b B Das | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M Vhaishya+ | c S Pandey | b B Das | 22 | 54 | 2 | 0 |
| Amit Shrestha | lbw | b Sameer Thapa | 16 | 28 | 1 | 1 |
| A Thapa | c S Pandey | b Sameer Thapa | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| S Gauchan* | not out | 72 | 89 | 8 | 2 | |
| S Khadka | not out | 16 | 24 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bijaya Thapa | b S Regmi | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| A Gupta | c&b S Regmi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| R BK | c S Regmi | b B Das | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| A Bhattarai | c&b R Mohammad | 29 | 41 | 2 | 2 | |
| extras | (b5 lb10 w15 nb2) | 32 | ||||
| TOTAL | 8 wickets for | 198 |
| FOW1-0(B Regmi) 2-20(Amit Shrestha) 3-38(A Thapa) 4-64(M Vhaishya) 5-66(Bijaya Thapa)6-66(A Gupta) 7-74(R BK) 8-130(A Bhattarai) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| B Das | 9 | 1 | 38 | 3 | 6 | – |
| R Mohammad | 6 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Sameer Thapa | 8 | 1 | 28 | 2 | 1 | – |
| H Ansari | 3 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 2 | – |
| S Regmi | 9 | 1 | 50 | 2 | 4 | – |
| M Hawari | 4 | 1 | 10 | 0 | – | – |
| S Timilsina | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | – |
| Birgunj Innings 143 All Out (Overs 39) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| S Timilsina | c S Gauchan | b F Khan | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| A Mandal | b B Regmi | 50 | 81 | 6 | 0 | |
| S Pandey+ | c B Regmi | b F Khan | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| S Wonjam | c&b A Bhattarai | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | |
| S Regmi | lbw | b Bijaya Thapa | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| H Ansari | c S Gauchan | b R BK | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| R Mohammad | c Bijaya Thapa | b R BK | 25 | 65 | 2 | 0 |
| B Das* | b A Bhattarai | 18 | 37 | 1 | 1 | |
| B Sah | not out | 11 | 14 | 0 | 1 | |
| Sameer Thapa | b A Bhattarai | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| M Hawari | b B Regmi | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb8 w3 nb1) | 12 | ||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 143 |
| FOW1-6(S Timilsina) 2-15(S Pandey) 3-25(S Wonjam) 4-42(S Regmi) 5-53(H Ansari)6-93(A Mandal) 7-119(B Das) 8-128(R Mohammad) 9-130(Sameer Thapa) 10-143(M Hawari) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| A Bhattarai | 7 | 0 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| F Khan | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 | – | – |
| S Gauchan | 7 | 2 | 15 | 0 | – | – |
| Bijaya Thapa | 7 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 1 | – |
| R BK | 7 | 0 | 29 | 2 | 1 | – |
| B Regmi | 8 | 0 | 21 | 2 | – | – |