Region No 1 Kathmandu maintained a perfect record winning the last league match against Region No 5 Nepalgunj to remain unbeaten while Region No 2 Birgunj finished a forgettable event with the fourth defeat – this time against Region No 6 Baitadi by six wickets at the TU Cricket Ground.
Nepalgunj scored 84/8 in 20 overs – the score that Kathmandu surpassed with nine wickets and 49 balls remaining.
The hero of Kathmandu’s win was Raju Basnet who grabbed three crucial middle order wickets after Pramod Basnet got Rupesh Sharma in the second ball of the innings. Raju’s exploits left Nepalgunj reeling at 43/5 in 13.3 overs.
Anupam Singh’s 21 off 27 balls and Nasir Ansari’s 22 off 19 balls (a four, a six) took the far-west team to 84. Rom Shrestha took two wickets.
Dipendra Chaudhary put off the keeping gloves and came to bat with renewed energy. He got 42 off 37 balls with six fours and a six before going down to Prafulla Rana. But at the point, he had already added 79 with Paresh Lohani (26 off 27, three fours) to ensure the victory.
Sajay Shrestha scored five not out.
Earlier in the morning, Birgunj’s woes continued with yet another defeat. Electing to bat first, they managed only 75 runs in 18.5 overs with Sunil Sah (15 off 17) and Ram Naresh Yadav (10 off 15) being only batsmen to reach double-digit.
Chandra Saud (3/15) and Prem Budal (3/20) spearheaded the Baitadi bowling while Bhuwan Karki bowled splendidly taking two wickets in his four overs that just cost two runs for his team.
Baitadi needed 17.3 overs to chase the target with six wickets in hand. Openers Binod Bhandari (20 off 22, three fours) and Prem Chaudhary (20 off 23, two fours) added 38 for opening stand and that laid the foundation for victory.
Shakti Bhandari then added 15 off 35 to take team near victory. Baitadi lost two wickets at 72, but that didn’t stopped the team from the victory.
Sanjam Regmi, Anil Mandal and Pradeep Sapkota each grabbed a wicket.