Sunny Pun struck a century to guide Region-I (Biratnagar) to the semi-finals of the Senior One-day National cricket tournament with a 166-run win over Region-VII (Janakpur) on Thursday.
In a Group B match held at the TU ground, opener Pun hit 119-ball 104 with 14 boundaries as Biratnagar posted a mammoth 304-5. Janakpur were skittled out for 138 runs in 44.3 overs. The result saw Biratnagar join Bhairahawa in the last four while Janakpur crashed out after finishing fifth in the six-team standings with two points.
Apart from Pun, former national team allrounder Mehboob Alam scored 83-ball 77 with eight fours and a six. Hari Shankar Sah got the prized wickets of both Pun and Alam while Abhishek Jha, and Chandan Jha took one wicket each for Janakpur.
Janakpur were in dire strait at 85-6 and never looked looked like threatening Biratnagar. No 8 batsman Sunil Sah top scored for Janakpur with an unbeaten 37 while Raj Mohammad chipped in 23. Veteran spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan, fresh from his six-wicket haul a day earlier, Puran Shankar BK, Puspa Thapa and Siddhant Lohani took two wickets each for Biratnagar.
At Pulchowk Engineering College ground, Region III (Kathmandu) thumped Region V (Nepalgunj) by 169 runs. With Biratnagar and Region IV (Bhairahawa) making it to the semi-final form Group B, the resounding Kathmandu victory carried no significance. The hosts, who have four points from two matches, will play their next inconsequential match against Region IX (Dhangadi) on Friday.
Electing to bat, Kathmandu were all out for 276 runs in 48. 1 overs. Suman Uday (31), Prashanna Shakya (31), Sanjay Basnet (30) and Arjun Adhikari (30) were the major run scorers for Kathmandu while Inamuddin Halwai grabbed three wickets for Nepalgunj. Nepalgunj were bowled out for 107 runs in 27.4 overs in reply. Shakya took 3-19 and Pramod Basnet 3-44 for Kathmandu.
In Pokhara Pokhara, Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) kept their semi-finals prospect alive after registering 44-run win over Region VIII (Pokhara). Defending a modest total of 205 runs, Rupesh Shrivastav took four and Rajesh Pulami three wickets to restrict Pokhara for 161 in 34.5 overs.
TAC had Suman Shrestha (54), Rajesh Pulami (34) and Rupesh Shrivastav (34) to thank for posting the total. In reply, skipper Rijan Prajoo fought a lonely battle for Pokhara as he stroke a fluent 74 runs but rest of the batsmen simply collapsed. His 83-ball knock included 11 hits to the fence and two fours. Shrivastav was the pick of the TAC bowlers with figures of 4-31 while Rajesh Pulami took 3-27.
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