Region No 1 Biratnagar finished third in the Springwood National League Cricket Tournament after defeating Region No 2 Birgunj by two wickets in the pace dominated low scoring match at the TU Cricket Ground on Friday.
Mehboob Alam took five wickets and Manjeet Shrestha grabbed three as the four-time champions bowled out Birgunj for a paltry 68 runs in 20.5 overs. Binod Das ensured Biratnagar toil hard to achieve the victory by claiming six wickets.
Birgunj got a disastrous start losing first eight wickets for only 25 runs in nine overs. It all began when Mehboob bowled Anil Mandal in the fourth ball to become the third player to get 50 wickets in the national league after Raju Basnet and Binod.
Mehboob’s deadly first five overs gave him five wickets and Manjeet got three in his first four overs as Birgunj was put in an embarrassing position of getting bowled for the lowest total in the event’s history.
Kumar Prasun saved Birgunj’s blushes, scoring 18 off 36 balls with two fours and most importantly taking his team past 44 – the lowest score in the event. Sameer Thapa got nine and the pair added 36 runs to give the team something to bowl for.
Birgunj too struck early when Pashupati Mandal got out in the third over but Sunny Pun (21) and Puspa Thapa (16) added 37 runs before Birgunj pegged them down. From 43/1, Biratnagar went down to 43/5 in less than two overs – Binod grabbing four of them and Sanjam Regmi picking one.
Binod claimed two more wickets but Mehboob ensured his contribution with bat getting the deserved result with an unbeaten 21 off 30 balls that included three fours. With the performance, Binod took his wickets tally to 59 – five ahead of Mehboob and six of Raju, who still has the Sunday’s final to play.