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| Kathmandu, Wednesday January 29, 2003 Magh 15, 2059. |
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Alam annihilates East-West
Cricket Club
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 28 : Meheboob Alam played an
innings of his life smashing 154 runs off 84 balls to become the second highest scorer in
a limited overs Nepali domestic match on Tuesday. Shree Niwas Rana had recorded the
highest score of 157 runs in 1981 at the same ground.
His scintillating knock helped Thapathali
Cricket Team to enter the semifinals of the ongoing Birendra
Memorial Cup Cricket tournament overhauling East-West Cricket Club by 146 runs in the rain
curtailed 30-over match.
Among the present players, his national team
colleague Dipendra Chaudhary and current Nepali international captain Raju Khadka had
scored 141 and 132 runs respectively in the year 2000. Khadka had achieved the feat at the
same Tundikhel ground while Chaudhary achieved the landmark at Tribhuvan University
Cricket Ground.
In his blitzkrieg innings, Alam struck nine
sixers and 14 boundaries bludgeoning East-West bowlers to all over the ground. However, he
was lucky to survive that long as East-West squandered as many as five catches to complete
terrible outing. Alam survived two chances when he was at 18 and the easiest chance was
fumbled by East-West wicket-keeper when Alam was at 52.
He made 50 runs in 36 balls and completed his
century in 62 balls. Alam completed his century lofting East-West’s Birendra Shah
straight for a huge sixer. During his heroic innings, the left-handed allrounder from
Saptari fired two consecutive sixes of right arm medium pacer Suman Kazi. He smashed
Birendra Shah and Manoj Sood thrice for sixers.
Alam’s brilliance overshadowed classic
innings of Anish Aryal, who compiled a chanceless 51 off 59 balls after opening batsman
Yaswant Subedi (6) failed second time in the tournament. He played a key role rotating the
strike to ferocious Alam. Aryal also belted six perfectly-timed boundaries. In the later
part of the innings, hard-hitting Manjeet Shrestha inflicted more pain to East-West
slamming two sixers and a couple of boundaries. His rapid-fire innings of unbeaten 30 runs
took just 15 deliveries. Unil Shreshta also remained unbeaten on 16.
Suman Kazi, Birendra Shah and Rockey Maskey were
the wicket takers in disastrous East-West performance.
Asked to chase a huge target of over nine runs
per over, East-West could only manage 133 runs in the allotted 30 overs for the loss of
nine wickets. Binod Khari played a patient innings gathering 48 runs off 70 balls. He
belted seven perfectly executed boundaries. Apart from him, opener Birendra Shah stayed a
while at the crease scoring 20 runs as rest of the batsmen failed to score significantly.
Right-arm slow bowler Unil Shrestha, leaving the
job of wicket keeping, was the pick of Thapathali bowling as he notched three wickets in
his full quota of six overs. Krishna Kunwar came up with two while Manjeet Shrestha
claimed a wicket for the winning team.
Yeti Airlines will take on Chabahil Cricket Club
in the first semifinal on Wednesday.
Other Story
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