By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – A 38 runs inning from a bat and a 4-wicket haul from Durgesh Gupta guided Lumbini Province towards 85 runs victory over Bagmati Province in an ongoing Wai Wai U19 National Cricket Tournament.
Lumbini’s Inning
Lumbini Province, who won the toss and elected to bat first at Mulpani Cricket Ground collected 234 runs in 49 overs. Lumbini’s openers continued with an inadequate performance which once again stopped them to score a half-century.
Aakash Tripathi and Dev Khanal, who opened the inning, contributed 40 and 46 runs. With Skipper Bishal Bikram KC scoring 11 runs, Prajjwol Thapa collected 9.
Sunil Bhandari (1), Vishal Bhusal (20), Nirmal Gurung (9), Tul Bahadur Thapa (28), and Nar Sarki added 8 runs to the tally. While Durgesh Gupta earned 38 runs off 25 deliveries including 6 fours and a sixer, Avishek Gautam remained unbeaten for 2.
With Pratik Shrestha claiming 3 wickets, Abishek Koirala and Omkar Yadav booked 2. Moreover, Ahamad Raza Yogesh Bhat took a single wicket each.
Bagmati’s Inning
In return, Bagmati failed to chase the winning target of 235 runs. Durgesh Gupta claimed 4 wickets, Avishek Gautam and Tul Bahadur Thapa booked 2 wickets whereas Nirmal Gurung and Nar Sarki took apiece to stop Bagmati at 35.3 overs for 149 runs.
Bagmati’s captain Ashok Thapa earned the highest number of runs for his team. With 6 fours from 54 balls, Ashok collected 31 runs before Durgesh Gupta caught his shot off Tul Bahadur Thapa’s delivery.
With opener Sakshyam Bastakoti leaving the crease for 9 runs, Lucky Kathayat returned to the pavilion with a dugout as Dugresh’s first wicket.
Uttam Magar (11), Yogesh Bhat (13), Pratik Shrestha (27), Roshan BK (23), Omkar Yadav (16), Abhishek Koirala (5), Ahamad Raza (0), and Sakriya Karki* added 1 run to the tally.
This is Bagmati’s first defeat in the competition. The match against table toppers Sudurpaschim on Friday will decide Bagmati’s future in the tournament.