One-Day champion Armed Police Force (APF) Club started also the Pepsi Standard Chartered T-20 National Cricket Tournament in a winning note as Region No 1 (Biratnagar), Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) and Region No 6 (Baitadi) sealed victory on the opening day of the tournament on Sunday.
APF edged past Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) by eight wickets at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur. Bhairahawa elected to bat and put up 109/9 in allotted 20 overs. Opener Sagar Pun (32 runs off 30 balls) and Subash Pradhan (20 runs off 22 balls) were the top scorers for Bhairahawa. Man-of-the-match Basant Regmi took four wickets while Sanjam Regmi and Shakti Gauchan claimed two wickets each for APF.
Gopal Singh of Janakpur plays a shot against Nepalgunj during the Pepsi Standard Chartered T20 National Cricket Tournament at Pulchowk Ground on Sunday.
APF met the target in 14.1 overs losing two wickets as Gyanendra Malla scored unbeaten half-century. Opener Subash Khakurel also remained not out with 48 runs. Krishna Karki took the two wickets for Bhairahawa.
In the second match of the pool A of the tournament, Biratnagar beat Region No 2 (Birgunj) by five wickets at the TU Ground. Biratnagar restricted Birgunj at 103/9 in 20 overs and met the target in 16.4 overs losing five wickets. Amit Shrestha was the top scorer for Birgunj with 35 runs while Kamal Kishor Premi took three wickets for Biratnagar. Man-of-the-match Manjeet Shrestha (unbeaten 39 runs off 31 balls) and Mehboob Alam (21 runs off 16 balls) were the highest contributors. Jitendra Mukhiya and Naresh Raj Giri claimed two wickets each for Birgunj.
Likewise, Nepalgunj pulled a 23-run victory over Region No 7 (Janakpur) at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground, Lalitpur. Janakpur invited Nepalgunj to bat first. Nepalgunj scored 164 runs in 20 overs losing seven wickets. Anupam Singh (39 runs) was the top scorer while Rupesh Sharma (20 runs), Mahesh Chhetri (26 runs) and Amar Singh Routela (22 runs) were the other major contributors for Nepalgunj. Sanjog Karn, Gopal Singh and Raj Mohammad took a wicket each for Janakpur while four Nepalgunj batsmen fell short to the crease.
Chasing the good total, Janakpur could reach only 141/9 in 20 overs. Anil Mandal scored 50 runs off 36 balls but rest of the batsmen could not consolidate the innings. Man-of-the-match Nasir Ansari, who scored 14 runs earlier, took two wickets for Nepalgunj.
Likewise, Baitadi edged past Region No 8 (Pokhara) by six wickets. Pokhara elected to bat and put up 118/8 in 20 overs. Amrit Shrestha (27 runs) was the top scorer for Pokhara. Shiva Raj Swar claimed three wickets while Chandra Sawad and Bhuwan Karki took two wickets each for Baitadi.
Chasing the total, Baitadi reached 120/4 in 16.2 overs. Man-of-the-match Naresh Budhayer scored unbeaten 45 runs off 31 balls including seven boundaries to seal the match. Rahul BK claimed two wickets for Pokhara.