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Biratnagar romp into final
BIRGUNJ, JAN 09 - Nepali international left-arm spinner Paras Luniya’s memorable performance powered the defending champions Region No 1 Biratnagar into the final of the Third Birendra Memorial National League Cricket Tournament here today at the Adarshanagar Cricket Ground.
Luniya scored unbeaten 28 off 32 deliveries to add 66 runs in the last eight overs which helped the two-time champions reach 174/7 in the allotted 40 overs against hosts Region No 2 Birgunj. Later in the second innings, he took three vital wickets to spearhead Biratnagar bowling that restricted Birgunj to 132 in 36.1 overs to win the match by 42 runs.
In the other thrilling match played at the Siddheswor Cricket Ground, Kalaiya, Region No 3 Kathmandu produced a surprise result defeating the other finalists Region No 4 Bhairahawa by one wicket in the last ball of the game.
At Adarshanagar, Anish Aryal anchored the Biratnagar innings with a patient 45 off 92 balls before being out as the sixth wicket off spinner Narayan Patel. Narayan who took seven wickets against Kathmandu two days earlier bowled well again taking three middle-order wickets that checked Biratnagar’s scoring for a time being.
Paras took the command after Anish was caught by Sameer Thapa off Narayan and built two vital partnerships - 36 with Raj Kumar Pradhan for seventh wicket and 33 with Ayush Shrestha for eighth wicket. Raj Kumar scored 19 off 13 balls while Ayush got unbeaten 15 off 11 balls.
Birgunj opened swiftly but failed to build up partnerships once spinners were introduced. Jitendra Yadav failed to read Paras’ clever bowling and gave a return catch to the bowler in his third ball. Next over, Subha Kanta Pandey ran himself out.
Paras ended any hopes of Birgunj win in the 18th over claiming vital wickets of highest scorer Bikash Dali and captain Binod Das. Bikash made 24 with two sixes, one of which was off Mehboob Alam, and Binod scored 10. Raj Kumar Pradhan, who returned with 3/25, and off-spinner Ayush Shrestha, 2/27, wrecked the lower-order.
"Quick run scoring during the slog overs helped us build a commanding score and our spinners did well," winning captain Dipendra Chaudhary said praising the efforts of his spin-trio.
In Kalaiya, Biken Shakya hit a six off the last ball bowled by Amit Shrestha to bring a thrilling win to Kathmandu. Amit tried to bring win for the team taking two last wickets, one in the fourth ball of the last over to leave Kathmandu four runs short for win. Biken took two in the fifth ball and hit a six when two runs were needed. Biken was awarded man of the match for those eight runs and a wicket.
Earlier, Bhairahawa chose to bat and scored 141 in 36.2 overs with Amit Shrestha scoring 30 while Manoj Vhaishya, Raju Khadka and Vijay Sharma got 25, 21 and 20 respectively. Suman Kaji Sthapit led bowling with three wickets while veteran Kalam Ali took two.Posted on: 2004-01-10 02:36
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