Sudurpaschim defeat Lumbini, lift U19 title

Biratnagar, Nov. 7: After a series of ducks in the lower order, Shiv Kunwar and Ramesh Kurmi, who were in-at-10 and in-at-11 respectively, took Lumbini near a win that had gone far away from their reach. However, a confusion led to Kurmi getting run out in the 44th over and  Sudurpaschim lifting the Naresh Shrestha Memorial U19 Men´s National Cricket Tournament on Wednesday.

It was like what a final is expected to be at Girija Prasad Koirala Cricket Stadium in Baijnathpur, Biratnagar, when the run out restricted Lumbini to 119 runs while chasing 128. Sudurpaschim´s bowlers and fielding deserved all the praise as they defended a paltry in the final; a good reply to the loss by 41 runs in the League stage on October 28.

Lumbini´s Santosh Yadav, tournament´s top wicket-taker and third-highest run scorer, was able to give the team the first breakthrough when Sudurpaschim batted first under the scorching heat of Tarai region. When the first wicket fell at 8.3 overs, Sudurpaschim were at 45 runs. 

And after that, Sudurpaschim´s wickets kept on falling as Yadav went on to claim a fifer in his 10 over spell with two maidens and giving only 28 runs. Ramesh Kurmi bagged three wickets and Shiv Kunwar took one while the final wicket of Sudur fell as a run out at 37.3 overs.

Despite posting a low total, Sudurpaschim did not seem to have lost hopes of lifting the trophy. With pacer Hemant Dhami opening the attack in the second innings, Lumbini´s batters could be seen hardly reaching the boundary line. Lumbini was rather getting runs with Dhami´s pace beating the keeper and fielders behind a couple of times. Dhami went on to deliver two maidens, bag four wickets and give only 25 runs in his 10-over spell. 

While Dhami, who was adjudged the Player of the Final, did his job well, Sachin Bhatt and Naren Saud aided him with two wickets each. Ashok Dhami also bagged one for Sudurpashcim as they won by eight runs.

Best performances

Santosh Yadav of Lumbini was the best bowler of the tournament with a stats of 27 wickets in seven matches. He was followed by his teammate Ramesh Kurmi with 19 wickets.

Likewise, big-man and hard-hitter Sonu Ansari of Koshi, the bottom-placed team, was the best batsmen of the tournament with 209 runs in six matches. He was followed by Bagmati´s Rohan Bishwakarma with 191 runs in six games.

And it was no other than Santosh Yadav who bagged the `Player of the Tournament´ award for his all-rounder performance with the bat and ball.

Tournament´s flaws?

As per the players and coaches participating in the tournament, they applaud the way Koshi Province hosted the tournament. However, there were some cases where the organisers had room for improvement. The first suggestion was a proper restroom/toilet.

Around half-a-dozen rooms under the one and only small parapet around the ground lacked water and was difficult to use due to lack of sanitation. 

The players were found walking long distance to use the toilet in the house of the guard of the stadium. 

The stadium also lacked spaces and infrastructure for aspiring audiences to reach there and view the game physically. 

There were only a few audience, mostly children, who came to see the final physically. There were not much audience in other matches played across two stadiums of Biratnagar as well. 

Nevertheless, participating teams and officials expressed satisfaction towards the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) for giving exposure to new talents. The CAN will now select players for the national U19 team based on the performances in the tournament.