Region No 1 Biratnagar celebrates winning the Pepsi Twenty20 National League. Photo: Republica
Region No 1 Biratnagar won the title of the Pepsi T20 Men´s National League Cricket Tournament. Biratnagar defeated Region No 4 Bhairahawa by eight runs in the final match played at the Pulchowk Cricket Grounds on Monday.
Batting first, Biratnagar put up 104 runs losing all wickets at the completion of the 20th over. Manjeet Shrestha topscored for the side with 35 runs off 16 balls including three sixes and as many boundaries. Mehboob Alam scored 24 runs while Sunny Pun contributed 17 runs.
Rahul Kumar BK claimed three wickets for Bhairahawa.
Chasing the total, Bhairahawa reached 96/7 in 20 overs. Bhairahawa could not reach the target though Subash Pradhan scored 41 runs and Dipesh Khatri added 27 runs.
Man-of-the-final Mehboob Alam claimed three wickets to seal the victory for Biratnagar.
Winners Biratnagar bagged Rs 50,000 while runners-up Bhairahawa received Rs 35,000.
Player of the Series Mehboob Alam. Photo: Republica
Alam also won the player-of-the-series award as he scored 155 runs in six matches and took 11 wickets with an economy rate of 3.32. Alam got Rs 10,000 as the award.
Likewise, Gyanendra Malla of Region No 3 Kathmandu won the ´best batsman´ award as he scored 136 runs from five matches while Binod Das of Region No 2 Birgunj got the award for best bowler as he took 13 wickets in five matches with an economy of 4.56. Malla and Das bagged Rs 5,000 each.
Vice President of National Sports Council Pitamber Timalsina, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) President Binaya Raj Pandey, Upendra Prasad Bhattarai (vice president, CAN), Suranjan De (CEO of Pepsi), and Diwakar Poudel (Head, Corporate Affairs Standard Chartered Bank) handed over the awards and prizes to the teams and players.
CAN is organizing Pepsi One Day National Cricket Tournament from Tuesday. Biratnagar will take on Bhairahawa in the opening match at the Pulchowk Cricket Grounds while Birgunj will face Kathmandu at the TU Cricket Grounds.