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| Kathmandu, Sunday April 21, 2002 Baishakh 08, 2059. |
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Gurung shines in Lalitpur’s
win
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 20:Right arm medium pacer Anand
Gurung’s 5-wicket haul helped Lalitpur beat Tribhuvan University (TU) by five wickets
to register their third consecutive win in the Regional Cricket Selection tournament in
the match played at the Tribhuvan University cricket ground on Saturday.
Lalitpur’s win brought new twist in the
tournament as both Lalitpur and Kathmandu, who have won all their previous matches, will
lock horns on Sunday’s last match. TU, who opened the campaign disastrously against
Kathmandu, settled with just two wins in four matches while Bhaktapur won a match and
newcomer Nuwakot lost all the matches.
Lalitpur bowlers found their groove to bowl out
TU in mere 88-run in 24.2 overs. They faced momentary hiccups while chasing but the target
was too small as Lalitpur took just 24 overs to reach the target with five wickets to
spare.
Earlier, TU skipper Devendra Subedi’s
decision to bat first misfired as Gurung made full use of the morning freshness to dismiss
the toporders cheaply. Although TU opener duo Purushottam Bhattarai and skipper Subedi
added 25 runs for the first wicket TU innings faltered thereafter. Only Sujan Dhakal, who
had missed all the previous matches TU played in the tournament due to back injury,
batting at number nine countered Lalitpur bowling attack playing some good strokes. Dhakal
chipped in with 23 off 30 deliveries. Yug Basnet was the only other batsman to reach
double figure mark with 10 off 19 balls.
A part from Gurung, Lalitpur right arm medium
pacer Purushottam Bista and Nipun clinched a couple of wickets each.
Lalitpur made shaky start to their runchase as
they lost as many as four wickets adding just 39 runs within 10 overs. Medium pacer Ritesh
Baral picked up three wickets including two in his first over. The three wickets took
Baral’s tournament tally to 12.
But Pragyan Singh Thapa’s steady 26 off 50
balls helped Lalitpur to reach the target. Thapa was forced to leave the ground when he
fell at the crease in an attempt to steal one run. Allrounder Pratik Pradhan chipped in
with 14 while Naresh Rana contributed 12 runs.
Besides Baral, Neeraj Basnet and Naresh Rana
also claimed a wicket apiece. Nripendra Bhattarai, the member of tournament organiser
Baluwatar Cricket Club (BCC) handed over the man-of-the-match award to Anand Gurung. |
