Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) qualified to the semifinal of the Pepsi Standard Chartered T20 National Cricket Tournament from pool A along with the group leader Armed Police Force (APF) Club on Thursday.
Bhairahawa thrashed Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by 82 runs at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground, Lalitpur to become runner-up in the pool A while APF humiliated Region No 3 (Kathmandu) by 61 runs to top the group.
APF will lock horns with pool B runner-up Region No 8 (Pokhara) while Bhairahawa will take on Region No 6 (Baitadi) in the semifinals on Friday at the TU Cricket Ground.
In a virtual quarterfinal, Subash Pradhan scored a half-century against Biratnagar to guide Bhairahawa to semifinal. Bhairahawa elected to bat but was all out for 122 runs in 19.2 overs. Veteran spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan dismissed five batsmen from Bhairahawa but man-of-the-match Pradhan scored 54 runs off 46 balls to guide his team to competitive total. Opener Sagar Pun contributed 27 runs off 26 balls and Nischal Chaudhary chipped in with 15 runs off 10 balls.
In reply, Biratnagar put up a horrible batting show and managed to score only 40 at close. Kalicharan Yadav didn’t come to crease as he was retired hurt and Biratnagar lost all nine wickets in 14.1 overs. Krishna Karki took three wickets and Lal Bahadur Adhikari claimed two wickets to restrict Biratngar in low total. Manoj Mandal (12 runs) and Sunny Pun (10 runs) were the highest contributors for Biratnagar.
Bhairahawa has six points from four matches as Biratnagar has four points. Group leader APF, which won all the four matches in the group, has eight points.
Sharad Vesawkar of APF bowls against Region No 3 Kathmandu during their match of Pepsi Standard Chartered T20 National Cricket Tournament at the Pulchowk Engineering Ground, Lalitpur on Thursday.
APF elected to bat and put up 176/2 in 20 overs as Subash Khakurel contributed unbeaten 93 runs off 64 balls. Khakurel struck nine boundaries and two sixes. Gyanendra Malla also remained unbeaten with 69 runs off 42 balls including six boundaries and a six. APF was at 25/2 in 3.6 overs as Keshav Raj Pant dismissed Paresh Lohani (nine runs) and Sanjay Shrestha (1 run) but Khakurel and Malla put up 151-run partnership for third wicket.
In reply, Kathmandu could reach only 115/9 in 20 overs. Rajesh Pulami tried to anchor the Kathmandu innings with 53 runs off 43 balls including five boundaries and two sixes but could not resist the matured bowling attack of APF. Rabin Joshi added 22 runs off 35 balls for Kathmandu. Shakti Gauchan, Sanjam Regmi and Sharad Vesawkar claimed two wickets each for APF.
APF’s wicketkeeper-batsman Khakurel, who also made three stumping and took a catch, was adjudged man-of-the-match.