An unbeaten half century from Chandan Jha helped debutants Region No 7 (Janakpur) register a three-wicket victory over Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket League at the TU Cricket Ground.
Janakpur met the 237-run target with seven balls to spare as Jha hit 74 runs. Abhishek Sah (12) sealed the win with a four off Sunil Sunar.
Man-of-the-match Jha hit six boundaries in his 99-ball innings. He played a 80-run partnership with skipper Samir Nepal for the fourth wicket. Nepal scored a run-a-ball 39 that included five fences.
Sushant Mandal (26), Abhishek Gautam (25) and Harishankar Sah were run out. Nepalgunj captain Subhendu Pandey and Ainuddin Halwai had two scalps each while Sunuwar pocketed one.
Earlier, Nepalgunj made 236/9 in the allocated 50 overs. Pandey scored 50 runs with eight boundaries off 64 deliveries while Bhupendra Gupta (39), Halwai (34), Nawaraj Shahi (34), Rupesh Sharma (20) and Siddhanta Shahi (unbeaten 17) also contributed to the team’s total.
Mandal claimed three wickets for Janakpur, Rahul Pratap Singh and Abhishek Gautam took two wickets apiece while Samir and Mohammad Ataul Haq had a wicket each in their name.
At the Pulchowk cricket ground, Region No 2 (Birgunj) hammered newcomers Region No 8 (Pokhara) by 186 runs. In reply to a mammoth total of 274 runs set by Birgunj, Pokhara were bowled out for 88 runs in 33.3 overs.
Despite the humiliating defeat Pokhara coach Jagat Tamata said that the participation of Pokhara in the national event was an achievement in itself for the team. “Nine players are playing in a national-level tournament for the first time and they have never before played on turf wicket. And we did not have high hopes either,” Tamata commented after the match.
Earlier, tail-ender Avinash Karna scored 53 runs as Birgunj posted a huge score. Karna who reached his half century in the 49th over after hitting a huge six, was run out in the same over. He hit three sixes and four boundaries in his 45-ball innings.
Rabin Gurung (43), Mohammad Hasim (32), Bivek Dali (31), Ameet Shrestha (27), Suraj Prasad Kurmi (20), Sagar Shrestha (19) and Shahnawaj Ali (unbeaten 18) scored for Birgunj. Nischal Pandey of Pokhara took three wickets while Ajay Lama and Saujan BC claimed two each.
To wreck Pokhara’s batting line-up, Jatta Shankar Sharaf dismissed four batsmen in his 8.3-over spell with four maiden overs and conceding only 11 runs. Similarly, Ali claimed three, man-of-the-match Karna took two and Dali bagged one wicket.
Sachin Gurung contributed the highest 34 runs off 83 balls with six fours for Pokhara. Rajesh Lamsal (21) and Anil Gurung (10) were the other batsmen to reach double figures.