Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) set up a title clash with Region No 1 (Biratnagar) in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament defeating Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) by six wickets in the semifinal held in Pokhara on Wednesday.
Nepalgunj elected to bat at the Pokhara Stadium and was all out for 179 runs in 49.4 overs. In reply, Bhairahawa reached 183/4 in 36.1 overs. Biratnagar had defeated Region No 2 (Birgunj) by one wicket in the first semifinal on Tuesday.
Nepalgunj openers Siddhant Shahi and Wasim Halwai (20 runs off 64 balls) put up a 65-run partnership. Shahi, then, put up a 22-run stand for the second wicket with Prajjwal Shahi (10 runs off 14 balls). Siddhant was run out after scoring 52 runs off 75 balls. He struck seven fours and a six.
In the middle order, Rahul Pokharel scored 14 runs off 31 balls while Amar Singh Routela added 14 runs off 34 balls. Akash Bista chipped in with 10 runs off nine balls. Batting at No 10, Inamuddin Halwai played a crucial role to guide Nepalgunj to a respectable total. He clobbered 33 runs off 28 balls with three fours and two sixes. Halwai put up a 36-run partnership with last man Bhupendra Rokka Magar (2 runs off 15 balls).
Bibek Chaudhary dismissed three batsmen of Nepalgunj while Susan Bhari took two wickets. Devendra Somare, Ikhlaq Ahmed and Nirmal Thapa claimed a wicket each.
Opener Shankar Rana provided a blistering start to Bhairahawa´s run-chase blasting 27 runs off 19 balls with four fours and a six. Rana shared a 38-run opening partnership with Nirmal Thapa before his dismissal in the third ball of the fourth over off Bhupendra Rokka.
Thapa anchored the Bhairahawa innings and scored 65 runs off 95 balls with seven boundaries. Thapa put up a 49-run partnership with Sabin Shakya (17 runs off 33 balls) for the second wicket.
Bijay Sunar returned to the pavilion scoring only one run off three balls but Thapa and Prakash KC put up a 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Thapa was caught by Routela off Akash Bista in the first ball of the 35th over, when Bhairahawa had reached 168 runs.
Prakash KC remained unbeaten on 41 runs off 66 balls and Krishna Sen was not out on one run off three balls. Rokka, Bista, Siddhant Shahi and Inamuddin Halwai claimed a wicket each for Nepalgunj.
Bhairahawa all-rounder Nirmal Thapa, who scored 65 runs and took a wicket, was adjudged the man-of-the-match.
The final match will be played on Thursday at the Pokhara Stadium.