 |
| Kathmandu, Thursday May 16, 2002 Jestha 02, 2059. |
|
Biratnagar belt Kathmandu out
of tournament
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 15 : Region No 1 (Biratnagar) set
up the final meeting with the Region No 4 in the Birendra Memorial National League Cricket
Championship after the Easterners thumped Region No 3 (Kathmandu) by seven wickets in a
crucial match on Wednesday.
Biratnagar, whose league matches against
Nepalgunj and Bhairahawa were washed out by rain, are now at the top of the table with six
points in four matches. On the other hand, Kathmandu are now eliminated from the
championship though they still have a match to play because of two straight losses in
three encounters.
"We deserved the win because we outplayed
them in every department today," ecstatic Biratnagar skipper Dipendra Chaudhary said.
"Our openers did well to chase the run in positive frame of mind," he added.
Man of the match Mahesh Sen, who had taken 11
wickets in the Regional-level tournament last month representing Morang, accounted for
last four Kathmandu batsmen in his 2-over spell to limit Kathmandu to mere 121 in 44.3
overs. In reply, Biratnagar needed 34.5 overs and three wickets to score a 7-wicket
victory.
On his path to devastate Kathmandu batsmen, Sen
took just 15 balls to send skipper Raju Basnet, Ritesh Baral, Anand Gurung and Saroj
Chitrakar to the pavilion. "The pitch offered turn but they took my part-time bowling
lightly and unnecessarily charged me to invite their downfall," conceded Sen, who was
called up to bowl by Chaudhary to fulfil the need of off-spinner in the spin friendly
pitch.
Kathmandu opening batsmen Paresh Lohani (20) and
Rabindra Thapa (18) batted patiently in the opening session when pacemen Mahaboob Alam and
Manjit Shrestha were exploiting the rain-soften pitch. They added 33 runs before Lohani
skied a catch to Sarwajit Pandey off Unil Shrestha in the 10th over.
Bardan Chalise, who topscored for Kathmandu with
21 runs stayed a bit longer at the crease but his dismissal off leg spinner Raj Kumar
Pradhan triggered Kathmandu’s batting collapse. Pradhan was outstanding as usual
bagging three wickets in his 10-over spell that cost just 25 runs. He could have bagged
more wickets but for three catches being dropped off his bowling. Little man Lakpa Lama
also picked up a couple of wickets. The Biratnagar bowlers maintained immaculate line and
length to put pressure on the Kathmandu batsmen throughout the innings.
"We played very cautiously at the beginning
and our middle-order perished trying to play big shots to accelerate the run rate,"
skipper Basnet criticised his team. "Further, we sorely missed an off-spinner who
would have provided variety to our slow bowling which include two genuine leg-spinners and
a left arm spinner," he added.
Biratnagar ran away with the match when their
openers Mehaboob Alam and Yaswant Subedi (25) added solid 75 runs in 16 overs. Alam, who
was dropped at long-on by Chittrakar off Pratik Pradhan on 2 , scored a scintillating 46
off 47 deliveries to continue his tremendous batting form. He had scored 53 runs –the
highest individual run in the championship – in Biratnagar’s second match
against Birgunj last week. His 46 runs included five fours and two huge sixes –both
the sixes and a four coming off left-arm spinner Basnet’s fourth over.
Skipper Dipendra Chaudhary did rest of the job
scoring unbeaten 30 runs when both the openers departed off successive balls. Chaudhary
also lifted leg-spinner Chitrakar, who was the only wicket taker from Kathmandu with two
wickets in his name, over his head for a glorious six.
Other Stories
|
