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| Kathmandu, Monday February 24, 2003 Falgun 12, 2059. |
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Biratnagar
beat Kathmandu for Birendra League title
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 23 :
Biratnagar defeated Kathmandu by four runs to defend their title of the Birendra Memorial
National League Cricket Championship on Sunday.
Four crucial run outs
in the middle while chasing a moderate target of 155 runs in 50 overs saw Kathmandu
present the title to Biratnagar in a platter.
Kathmandu’s
bowlers did a good job to restrict Biratnagar’s strong batting to 154-9 in the
allotted 50 overs before Biratnagar bundled them for 150 in 48.4 overs.
"You should not
show that kind of haste while chasing a small target," said Nepali national coach Roy
Dias referring to the four run outs in Kathmandu’s innings. "Biratnagar’s
collective effort and sharp fielding paved way for their success," added Dias.
Biratnagar skipper
Dipendra Chaudhary decided to bat first after winning the crucial toss earlier but his
in-form opener Mehaboob Alam lofted a simple catch to Munik Shrestha in the first delivery
of the innings off Kalam Ali. Yaswant Subedi and skipper Chaudhary added valuable 59 runs
for the second wicket. Yunil Shrestha and Paras Luniya than added 42 runs for the fourth
wicket but rest of the Biratnagar batsmen failed to stay at the crease. In the later part
of the innings wicket keeper Manoj Katuwal chipped in with 21 unbeaten runs to take the
score past 150 run mark.
Right-arm medium pacer
Pramod Basnet was the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets while speedster Kalam Ali
notched a couple of crucial wickets for Kathmandu. Allrounder Bardan Chalise also
restricted Biratnagar’s batting giving away just 30 runs in his 10-over spell.
Left-arm spinner Raju Basnet ended his memorable tournament claiming two wickets in nine
overs. He conceded just 25 runs. Anil Amatya also took a wicket.
"Bowlers did a
very good job and we fielded superbly but four run outs in an innings take you nowhere in
a limited over match," said Paresh Lohani, who got out when his runner Chalise became
the victim of a bad call. Lohani batted at number seven and scored brisk 25 off 30 balls
after sustaining an ankle injury while fielding.
Kathmandu batting never
looked promising through out their run-chase. Mehaboob trapped in-form opener Sandeep
Shrestha in his third over. He also sent rookie Sarad Veswakar in his next over as
Kathmandu reeling at 37-3 in 15 overs. Wicket keeper Katuwal gave a huge break-through to
Biratnagar when he ran Bardan Chalise out. Katuwal, who was later declared man of the
match, also ran dangerous Kalam Ali out, took two brilliant catches and made a stumping
behind the stump.
Dhiraj Gyawali faced 72
balls and scored 28 runs. The match took a dramatic turn when Kalam Ali came at the crease
as Kathmandu were in trouble with just a wicket remaining and still needing 35 runs. Ali
put on 30 runs with Parmod Basnet (08) for the last wicket before Manoj caught him short
of his crease in the third ball of the 48th over. Ali connected a sixer and a four in his
17-ball knock of 19 runs.
"Our batting did
not click today but still we managed a win thanks to my spinners and fielders who defended
a gettable target in this ground," said Biratnagar captain Chaudhary. "In fact,
Kathmandu threw the match today," he added.
Mehaboob Alam, who was
the man of the series in the last edition of the tournament, was adjudged the same this
time around too. Allrounder Alam scored 88 runs in three matches with the strike rate of
88.80 and claimed eight wickets in his 29 overs conceding 70 runs. Leg spinner Raju Basnet
was declared best bowler as he finished up with six wickets in two matches where he bowled
18.4 overs and conceded 43 runs. Kathmandu’s Sandeep Shrestha walked away with
best-batsman award scoring 81 with the average of 40.5 in two matches. He scored 80 runs
in a match, which is the highest run scored by a batsman in this tournament.
Assistant Minister for
Education and Sports Rabindra Khanal, the president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN)
Jai Kumar Nath Shah, CAN honorary-secretary Binaya Raj Pandey and coach Roy Dias gave away
the shield and certificates to the winners and runners-up. |
