Region-II (Birgunj) and Region-IV (Bhairahawa) advanced to the semi-finals of the Senior One-day National cricket tournament on Monday.
Bhairahawa confirmed their place in the last four after recording their fourth consecutive win in Group B, as they defeated Region-V (Nepalgunj) by four wickets at the Tribhuvan University (TU) ground. Birgunj too made it to the semi-finals from Group A with eight points.
In Pokhara, Birgunj hammered hosts Pokhara by 114 runs. Arif Sheikh scored a half century to help Birgunj pile on 224-9. Kumar Thapa returned with figures of 4-25 as Pokhara were restricted for 110 runs in 34.4 overs. Man-of-the-match, Ram Naresh Giri, who also made 37 runs, claimed three wickets to pile more misery on Pokhara.
Pokhara had a rocky start with the top three batsmen adding just 34 runs. Middle order batsman Dipesh Khatri anchored their innings with an unbeaten 30 runs. Khatri faced 85 balls but with wickets falling at regular interval at the other end his effort proved too little. Earlier, Seikh hit 81-ball 54 runs including seven boundaries while Anil Sah hit 32 to propel Birgunj to 224.
At the TU ground, Bhairahawa bowled Nepalgunj out for 201 runs. Bhairahawa had a poor start chasing the total but Lal Bahadur Adhikari and Antim Thapa added 109 runs for the fifth wicket to bring their team into winning position. Adhikari hit 63-ball 49 while Thapa scored 51-ball 43.
Nasir Ansari broke the stand when he had Thapa caught by Shubhendu Pandey in 23.1 overs. Ansari also got rid of Adhikari four balls later to reduce Bhairahawa to 158-6. But Sushan Bhari (20) and Prakash KC (11) safely guided their team home.
Earlier, Praveen Giri’s half century had gone in vain for Nepalgunj. Openers Siddhant Raj Shahi (45) and Bhupendra Thapa (20) had laid a strong foundation for a big total but the middle order collapsed after their dismissal. Praveen then came to rescue his side with a fluent 57-ball 53, which to ensure Nepalgunj cross 200 runs.
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