A splendid first-wicket partnership between Bijay Gautam and Ayush Rana dashed hopes of Region No 6 Baitadi of winning it’s maiden national title as Region No 3 Kathmandu lifted the Boost Under-17 National Cricket Tournament title at the TU Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Man of the match Bijay and Ayush added 106-run in 23.3 overs for opening partnership as Kathmandu raced to 135 in 30.3 overs losing just three wickets. Earlier, Baitadi, who had entered the final with four wins in five league matches, had scored 132/9 in 40 overs.
Bijay scored match’s highest 48 off 69 balls with five fours, while Ayush got 40 off 76 deliveries with four boundaries. The duo returned in space of three balls when Bikram Sob bowled the 24th over.
Captain Prithi Baskota hit two fours in 10 balls for his 9 before losing his wicket to Bashu Giri leaving his team 11 runs shy of the title. Pramod Yadav (8) and Pawan Shrestha (6) completed the task without further damage.
Earlier, Baitadi won the toss and elected to bat first. The far-western team lost Pradeep Ayree in the third over. Ayree’s loss slowed down run scoring rate as Baitadi scored only 38 runs in next 14 overs.
They never recovered and despite a few stable partnerships, they always lagged behind in scoring and slogging during the last few overs also did not work. They finished at 132/9 in 40 overs with captain Surendra Bahadur Chand (27 off 82 balls) and Bhuwan Karki (18 of 21) being the top-scorers. Prithu and Ujjwal Thapa each grabbed three wickets while Keshav Yadav got two.
The consolation for Baitadi was Pradeep’s choice as the man of the series for his 125 runs and seven wickets in league matches. Kathmandu’s Prithu was declared best bowler for his 15 wickets in five matches while Birgunj’s Amit Shrestha got the best batsman award for his 150 in five matches.
Prizes were given by Sita Ram Maskey (National Sports Council vice-president), Upendra Prasad Bhattarai (Vice President of Cricket Association of Nepal), Binod Raj Rajbhandari (Member of CAN), Uttam Karmacharya (Member of CAN and Nepal’s first captain), Thakur Pratap Thapa (Member of CAN), Santosh Mardan Thapa (Member of CAN), Sushil Bhattarai (Secretary of Region No. 3 Kathmandu), M.B. Swaminathan (Country Manager, Boost) and Bijay Sharma.