Amrit Bowls Bhairahawa to Final

Region No 4 Bhairahawa’s Amrit Bhattarai bowled a lethal spell of left-arm swing bowling to help his team enter final of the Shikhar Senior One-Day National Cricket Tournament on Thursday.

Amrit guided Bhairahawa to a four-wicket win early on the day after Biratnagar skipper Unil Shrestha took the gamble of batting first on a grassy wicket at the Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground. Biratnagar’s batting woes continued in the semifinal as the highest scorer was the number 10 batsman Santosh Baral with 19 runs. He showed his batting prowess hitting a couple of lofty sixes.

Opener Puspa Thapa (7) was the fist victim of Amrit while his partner Dipesh Bhattarai claimed promoted Mehboob Alam for 10 runs. Amrit once again struck twice within the space of four balls ousting Ratan Rauniyar (1) and Unil Shrestha (0) as Biratnagar was reduced to 26/5 in 11.4 overs. Thanks to the tailenders Sunil Bista (10), Lakpa Lama (10) and Manjeet Shrestha (9) along with topscorer Santosh, Biratnagar managed 92 runs in 33 overs.

Almost all Bhairahawa bowlers had enviable figures, none better than Amrit’s four for 13 runs in seven overs including a couple of maidens. Not just seamers, even Bhairahawa spinners proved too much for Biratnagar batsmen to handle. Sagar Khadka and Shakti Gauchan claimed two wickets each while Basanta Regmi and Dipesh Khatri took a wicket each.

It was, however, not a cake walk for Bhairahawa to go past the three time champion Biratnagar despite the lowly target. Once reduced to 18/3 in 13 overs, Bhairahawa survived with a solid 38-run fourth wicket stand between skipper Shakti Gauchan and Sagar Khadka that negated the Mehboob factor. Earlier, the left-armer looked ominous picking dependable Antim Thapa (3) and Dipesh Khatri (6).

Shakti perished stumped off Ratan trying to use his feet for 25 runs, the highest individual score. Sagar Khadka on the other hand, handed a catch at the long-on trying a big one against Lakpa Lama for 19 runs. Makeshift opener Basanta Regmi (1) did not last long either.

Akash Gupta entertained the crowd, in encouraging number, with a contrasting innings of 21 runs. He hammered two sixes including a huge one straight above the head of Lakpa Lama before falling to Manjeet. Amit Shrestha (9) and Manoj Baisya (1) drove Bhairahawa home in 36.4 overs for the loss of six wickets. Mehboob and Manjeet took two wickets each while Lakpa and Ratan got one each for Biratnagar.