Region No 1 Biratnagar celebrates winning the Pepsi Twenty20 National League. Photo: Republica
Region No 1 Biratnagar won the title of the Pepsi T20 Men´s National League Cricket Tournament. Biratnagar defeated Region No 4 Bhairahawa by eight runs in the final match played at the Pulchowk Cricket Grounds on Monday.
Batting first, Biratnagar put up 104 runs losing all wickets at the completion of the 20th over. Manjeet Shrestha topscored for the side with 35 runs off 16 balls including three sixes and as many boundaries. Mehboob Alam scored 24 runs while Sunny Pun contributed 17 runs.
Rahul Kumar BK claimed three wickets for Bhairahawa.
Chasing the total, Bhairahawa reached 96/7 in 20 overs. Bhairahawa could not reach the target though Subash Pradhan scored 41 runs and Dipesh Khatri added 27 runs.
Man-of-the-final Mehboob Alam claimed three wickets to seal the victory for Biratnagar.
Winners Biratnagar bagged Rs 50,000 while runners-up Bhairahawa received Rs 35,000.
Player of the Series Mehboob Alam. Photo: Republica
Alam also won the player-of-the-series award as he scored 155 runs in six matches and took 11 wickets with an economy rate of 3.32. Alam got Rs 10,000 as the award.
Likewise, Gyanendra Malla of Region No 3 Kathmandu won the ´best batsman´ award as he scored 136 runs from five matches while Binod Das of Region No 2 Birgunj got the award for best bowler as he took 13 wickets in five matches with an economy of 4.56. Malla and Das bagged Rs 5,000 each.
Vice President of National Sports Council Pitamber Timalsina, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) President Binaya Raj Pandey, Upendra Prasad Bhattarai (vice president, CAN), Suranjan De (CEO of Pepsi), and Diwakar Poudel (Head, Corporate Affairs Standard Chartered Bank) handed over the awards and prizes to the teams and players.
CAN is organizing Pepsi One Day National Cricket Tournament from Tuesday. Biratnagar will take on Bhairahawa in the opening match at the Pulchowk Cricket Grounds while Birgunj will face Kathmandu at the TU Cricket Grounds.
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Thanks to the site for proper coverage of the tournament. It would be really great if we could have the stats of best batting and bowling of the tournament.
Also, it would be really wonderful to get recent updates regarding current affairs like preparation of Division 4, and other matters to keep the supporters engaged.
And those prizes to the best players is a joke. Learn from football, learn from IPL. We all know it’s a poor country but if football can, then cricket too can.These matches should be broadcast live in TV. And, it would be very good he we can introduce club cricket. And if departmental teams also participate, it’d be wonderful. Pokhara and Mulpani ko ground chhito banau. Pokhara can be developed as sports tourism centre and neutral venue for international cricket.
C’mon CAN, you CAN
Bhairahawa’s bowling performance restricting Biratnagar to just 104 Runs was simply great, but their batsmen did not complement to their bowlers’ great job. They did have a good opportunity of avenging their earlier defeat against Biratnagar but their batsmen missed out the golden chance. Losing the game by 8 runs with still 3 wickets in hand clearly shows had the Bhairahawa batsmen showed a little of grit and determination, the result could have been otherwise. On the contrary, Biratnagar despite with just 104 runs to defend, they did tremendous job and kept pressure on the Bhairahawa Batsmen which proved instrumental winning the keenly contested game. Biratnagar should be thankful to Manjeet Shrestha’s valuable 36 runs, Sunny Pun’s 17 runs and Mehboob Alam’s 24 runs coupled with 3 wickets while bowling. Mehboob Alam’s consistent performance truly deserves Man of the Series Award, Binod Das’ never-say die attitude while bowling aptly bringing him the Best Bowler’s Award and some sort of solace to the last year’s champion Kathmandu that their player Gyanendra Malla bagging Best Batsman of the tournament.
Overall, it was a wonderful tournament but had there been a boisterous crowd at the venue, it would have been fantastic. I reckon Cricket Association of Nepal would do something to pull crowd in the domestic cricket tournaments. Now, with the completion of Twenty20 Cricket fever over and traditional One-Day Tournament getting underway, it would be a great match practice to national side players ahead of very important ICC WCL-DIVISION IV TOURNAMENT in Italy in a couple of months’ time. The players should make optimum use of this tournament and sharpen up their skills and be well-tuned for the upcoming challenge waiting in Italy. I am sure our team will make Italy, Tanzania, Cayman Islands, Argentina, USA eat humble Idily (South Indian eatable stuff IDILY DOSA) in ICC WCL-DIVISION IV TOURNAMENT in Italy.
Please make arrangement or seek organizer to get more financial support to Cricket. We have to bind our player to continue cricket for long run otherwise lack of good earning they definitely switch to another profession. Please give them more facility and enough financial support to sustain.
We desperately need Mulapani and Pokhara cricket ground as soon as possible. If we have good grounds in our country definitely foreign cricket team regularly come to our country for the series and our country will take benefit in terms of Cricket & Tourism.
Really? Rs. 50,000 for the winning team and that’s it? Seriously, lack of funds in our cricket is holding us back from progressing. It’s sad that our cricketers don’t have a career in cricket. Hope CAN does what needs to be done.
I request to concerned person of the site to post the progress photographs of Pokhara Cricket Stadium & Mulpaani Cricket Stadium if construction is going on……….