SPORTS

Kathmandu Tuesday March 27, 2001 Chaitra 14,  2057.

Birgunj crush Kathmandu by 112 runs

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 26 - Birgunj boys crushed Kathmandu boys by a huge margin of 112 runs in the ongoing Under-19 Regional Selection Cricket tournament being held at Tribhuvan University ground today.

It was second successive victory for the Birgunj team as they had already beaten Biratnagar in the yesterday’s game. Electing to bat first, Birgunj challenged the Kathmandu boys posting a huge target of 237 runs in the allotted 50 overs losing all the wickets.

Birgunj did not have a good start as it lost its opening pair with only seven runs on the board but the middle order batsmen came out with their powerful batting prowess to save the day. It was the partnership of Binod Das and Sanjay Wonjan who contributed 86 runs that turned the match in their favour. Sanjay played a sensible game scoring 21 runs off 67 balls to provide a good support to Binod Das who scored a quick 65 runs out of 52 balls with the help of 10 fours and one sixer.

Mustafa Hajari chipped in 75 runs from 72 balls he faced with eight hits to the fence, including 7 fours and 1 sixer. Sanjay Regmi also contributed 33 runs to the total facing 38 balls.

The Kathmandu boys showed a good bowling in the initial stage of the game but they could not restrain their opponents because of the couple of dropped catches and misfielding. Bardan Chalise took two wickets in his 10 overs giving away 48 runs. Pravin Sangraula also took two wickets in his spell at the expense of 42 runs.

Kathmandu boys who came to the crease with the requirement of almost five runs per over had to face the defeat because their batting line-up was not as deep as that of their opponents.

Bardan Chalise tried to hold the game with his quick 40 runs out of just 36 balls he faced in aggressive manner. Chalise showed a good overall performance with his 40 runs and two wickets but after he lost his wicket, the batting line up of the Kathmandu team crumbled against some stupendous bowling of Birgunj boys. Rashik Bhandari scored 30 runs with the help of four boundaries.

Murtuja Hajari claimed four wickets in his four overs giving only 14 runs. Narayan Patel also played an economic spell while taking three wickets with couple of maiden overs. Murjuwa Hawari was declared man of the match for his match haul of four wickets.

Tomorrow’s match will be played between Biratnagar and Bhairahawa.