Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) XI, started the 31st All India Uttarakhand Gold Cup Cricket Tournament in winning note as the Nepali team led by Prithu Baskota sealed a two-wicket victory over Uttararakhand XI in Dehradun.
According to CAN XI coach Binod Das, Nepal bundled out Uttarakhand for 187 runs in 36.3 overs and met the target in 39.4 overs losing eight wickets.
Uttarakhand XI elected to bat and made brilliant start scoring 75 runs in 15 overs without losing wickets. The CAN XI got first breakthrough courtesy to a brilliant run out by Baskota and Mahendra Chand.
Uttarakhand XI suffered a mini collapse as they were at one stage 102/4 in 23 overs. Shakti Gauchan bowled superb spell taking two wickets in that period. Uttarakhand recovered a bit and reached 163/4 in 29 overs but Chandra Sawad came back for his second spell and bowled excellent spell to take five wickets in 3.3 overs giving away 16 runs to bundle out Uttarakhand for 187 runs in 36.3 overs. In overall, Sawad’s bowling figure was 7.3-0-36-5.
In reply, Nepal failed to make good start as it lost Pradeep Airee for naught when the team score was 10. Naresh Budhayer joined opener Anil Mandal (29 runs) at the center and they put up 50 runs in 14 overs. Nepal looked in trouble at 93/3 in 24 overs but Binod Bhandari came in and smashed 33 runs in no time.
Once he got out at 134, Nepal suffered double blow as Budhayer and Mahendra Chand got run out in same over. Budhayer had scored 54 runs off 76 balls before getting out. From 134/3, Nepal slipped to 140/6. However, Shakti Gauchan (19) and Bhuwan Karki (22) ensured two-wicket victory for Nepal in 39.4 overs.