Kalicharan Yadav completed a five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, to help Region No 1 (Biratnagar) pull off a thrilling one-wicket victory over Region No 2 (Birgunj) in the semifinal of Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament in Pokhara on Tuesday.
Kalicharan took the first ever hat-trick in the domestic age-group tournament as Biratnagar reached the final of the U-19 national tournament for the first time in 10 years. Biratnagar had played its last U-19 final in 2003, when it was beaten by Bhairahawa.
Birgunj elected to bat at the Pokhara Stadium but was all out for 89 runs in 36.1 overs as Biratnagar bowlers dominated the match.
Biratnagar bowler Rohit Singh dismissed Birgunj opener Amit Shrestha (1 run) in the fifth ball of the second over. Then, Yadav picked four wickets in consecutive deliveries in the third over. He dismissed Birgunj opener Arif Sheikh (3 runs) in the second ball of the third over and took the wickets of Suraj Prasad Kurmi, Kanchan Thapa and Bijay Ghalan in the next three balls.
Singh claimed the wicket of Bikram Basnet (1 run) and Yadav trapped Ram Naresh Giri LBW to leave Birgunj reeling at 9/7 in 6.3 overs. Yadav finished with a bowling figure of 8-2-24-5.
The Birjunj tail-enders, however, showed some resistance. Nabin Yadav scored seven runs off 33 balls before Amit Dahal dismissed him. Mustakim Miya added 22 runs off 51 balls before falling to Dahal.
Batting at No 10, Avinash Karn remained unbeaten on 27 runs off 71 balls while Irshad Ahmed chipped in with 11 runs off 27 balls. Rohit Singh took Ahmed´s wicket in the first ball of 37th over to wrap-up the Birgunj innings.
Chasing a low target, Biratnagar suffered hiccups as it lost opener Somesh Yadav for a duck in the second ball of the innings. Another opener Amol Das (21 runs off 20 balls) and Mayanand Chaudhary (9 runs off 40 balls) put up a 32-run partnership for the second wicket. Biratnagar kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Ankit Subedi´s 10 runs off 32 balls and No 10 batsman Amit Dahal´s unbeaten 12 runs off 21 balls guided Biratnagar to a thrilling victory.
Biratnagar was at 85/9 in 35.4 overs but Heman Rai, batting at No 11, stayed till the end facing eight balls though he did not score any run. Earlier, cheap dismissals of Suman Shrestha (5 runs off 25 balls), Rohit Singh (2 runs off 33 balls), Niraj Shah (8 runs off 28 balls) and Kalicharan Yadav (1 run off 15 balls) had put Biratnagar in a difficult position. Birgunj bowlers gifted 22 extras to Biratnagar.
Avinash Karn took three wickets while Ram Naresh Giri, Nabin Yadav, Irshad Ahmed and Arif Sheikh claimed a wicket each.
Biratnagar medium-pacer Kalicharan Yadav, who has played for the Nepali U-16 team at the international level, was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his brilliant bowling performance.