Region No 7 (Janakpur) stunned heavyweight Region No 1 (Biratnagar) to qualify for the semifinals of the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament at TU Cricket Ground.
Janakpur, playing the first national tournament after being separated as a new development region recently, reached the final four at expense of Biratnagar and Region No 5 (Nepalgunj). Janakpur now meets Region No 4 (Bhairahawa).
At TU, Biratnagar won the toss and elected to bat first but found themself in trouble the pacers troubled them. Sameer Nepal and Pradeep Sapkota each grabbed a wicket while Bikal Bista took two to put Biratnagar in trouble at 68/4.
Opener Aditya Shrestha played with some confidence to score 47 off 59 balls with six fours and a six but fell soon after Rahul Pratap Singh began bowling. Rahul went on to take four more in his six overs for 19 runs nailing the easterns down.
Captain Anup Karki was the only other batsman scoring double-digit (18) as the team were bowled out for 121 in 32.3 overs.
Biratnagar took early wickets but little runs here and there and a lot of extra runs shattered any hope of revival. Although Janakpur went down to 65/5 in 18.3 overs, Mohd Ataul Haq (22 not out off 48) and Bikal (20 off 23) ensured a four wicket victory in 28.3 overs.
Pokhara earns the first win
Although Region No 8 (Pokhara) could not imitate Janakpur, the westerners returned with head held high after registering a win in the debut tournament. Pokhara beat Region No 6 (Baitadi) by 75 runs in the final yet meaningless, as far as promotion to semifinal concerned, match at the IOE Ground.
Pokhara won the toss and elected to bat first. After losing captain Rezin Gurung in the first over, Nischal Pandey and Sagar Bhattarai added 65 runs for second wicket to give some solid foundations. Nischal got 28 off 72 balls while Sagar scored 27 off 48 balls.
Pokhara’s middle-order then collapsed like a house of cards with seven wickets falling for 36 runs. Ajay Lama (29 off 43 with two sixes) and Shiva Shrestha (11 off 46) then added 36 runs for ninth wicket as Pokhara ended their innings at 145 in 39.5 overs.
Bhuwan Karki was the most successful bowler taking 4 for 11 in his 10 overs as Naresh Budhayer took 3/36.
Pokhara’s opening bowlers Shiva Shrestha and Amrit Kumar Shrestha nailed out Baitadi with the tight opening that saw Baitadi go down 21/4 in 8 overs. Shiva took 3/28 for that.
Then Nischal and Rajesh Lamsal each grabbed two wickets as Baitadi batsmen struggled to score runs and were bowled out for 70 in 20.4 overs. Only Santosh Bhatta (17) and Bikram Thalal (14) got some runs.
Semifinals are slated for December 23. Region No 3 (Kathmandu) plays Region No 2 (Birgunj) and Janakpur plays Bhairahawa in semifinals.