Sudurpaschim cruise into final

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Dev.1: Sudurpaschim Province cruised into the final of the CAN U19 National Selection Tournament following its seven-wicket win over Madhesh U19 at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Wednesday. 

Batting first Madhesh garnered 122 runs losing all of its wickets in 38.1 overs. Sudurpaschim rode on the half-century of Deepak Bohora (58-ball 53) to record its fifth consecutive win and seal the final topping the table with 10 points. The tournament is conducted under the single round-robin league format. The top two teams from the league round will vie for the title.

Dipak Bohara (24) and Gajendra Bohara (not out 23) chipped in for the leader Sudurpaschim. 

Sudurpaschim’s bowler Hemant Dhami picked three wickets in the dismissal of Madhesh. Ali Ansari (32), Mayan Yadav (23) and Imran Sheikh (28) contributed to Madesh.  At Mulpani Cricket Ground, Lumbini Province stunned Bagmati Province by 85 runs to revive its final hopes. The win could have sent Bagmati into the final with one game in hand. However, the victory helped Lumbini occupy third place with six points from four matches. 

Batting first, Lumbini scored a challenging score of 234 runs losing all of its wickets in 49 overs. Bagmati, in reply, struggled to add 149 runs by losing all of its wickets in 36.3 overs.  

Durgesh Gupta was the pick of the bowler for Lumbini with a figure of 4-15. Captain Ashok Poudel (31), Pratik Shrestha (27) and Roshan BK were the chief contributors to Bagmati. 

For Lumbini, Opener Aakash Tripathi (70-ball 40) and Dev Khanal (54-ball 46) were the major run scorers. From the bottom, Durgesh Gupta also smashed 25-ball 38 to lead Lumbini to a defendable total. 

Tul Bahadur Thapa (28) and Vishal Bhusal (20) also chipped in for Lumbini.