Captain Avinash Karn displayed a sensational bowling performance to help Region No 2 Birgunj lift the Boost U-16 National League Cricket Tournament defeating Region No 4 Bhairahawa by 36 runs at the TU Cricket Ground.
Winner Region No 2 Birgunj pose with the trophy. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Avinash took seven wickets as Birgunj bowled out Bhairahawa for 74 runs in 22.4 overs after scoring 110 in 35.3 overs in the final.
Electing to bat first, Birgunj, the unbeaten team in the round-robin league could only manage 110. Chandan Jha topscored with 47 runs off 93 balls with three fours. He and opener Chakra Prakash (21 off 55) were only two batsmen to score in double-digit and shared a 30-run partnership – the highest of the innings.
Satish Bhagat was pick of the bowler with 3/15 while Sushan Bari grabbed two wickets. Nabin Shrestha, Devendra Somare and Bibek Chaudhary each returned with a wicket.
Bhairahawa were probably looking for a revenge of the 10-wicket loss in the league but Birgunj proved that they did not bowl out them for 59 in that match on a fluke.
Bhairahawa managed to score better getting 74 but that was not enough. Only three batsmen – Kasam Thapa (17), Prakash KC (11) and Satish (10) – got double digit.
Avinash picked with 7 wickets in his 8 overs giving away 19 runs. Rajeev Shah picked up two and Gopal Singh got one wicket to end Bhairahawa’s dream.
It was Birgunj’s second title in the age-group national league after winning U-19 in March.
Avinash Karn 7/19 won the match for Birgunj.
Hari Chaulagain, the captain of Biratnagar, was adjudged best bowler of the event for his 12 wickets while Nepalgunj’s captain Washim Halwai took the award for best batsman for scoring 138 runs in five matches.
Chief Guest Minister for Youth and Sports Ganesh Tiwari Nepali gave away the prizes in the closing ceremony that was attended by ministry secretary Sushil Narsing J B Rana, Cricket Association of Nepal president Binaya Raj Pandey, CAN vice-presidents Upendra Prasad Bhattarai and Ramesh Silwal, CAN secretary Tarak Mani Dixit, CAN members Santosh Mardan Thapa, Arun Satyal, Binod Raj Rajbhandari, hosts Region NO 3 secretary Bijay Kumar Sharma, hosting committee member Naresh Rana and sponsor Arose Sthapit.