Milan Bohara’s six-wicket haul helped Sudurpaschim Province thrash Gandaki by 113 runs and register their third consecutive victory in the U-19 National Cricket Tournament in Kirtipur on Sunday.
Gandaki were chasing a target of 214 runs at the TU cricket ground. But spinner Milan rattled the Gandaki batting order returning 6-11 and skittled them for just 100 runs in 32.5 overs.
Opener Govinda BK top scored for Gandaki hitting 22 off 30 balls before he was caught by wicket keeper Sunil Chand off Naren Saud.
Arjun Kumal provided the next highest score with 20 off 40 balls. But it was BK’s opening partner Kumal who became the first casualty of Milan, when the bowler had him caught by Aakash Chand in the 9.2 overs.
Milan then continued the onslaught with his lethal spin and removed Karan Pangeni (15), Cibrin Shrestha (0), Sachinraj Adhikari (7) and Sujan Gautam (0) to put Gandaki in deep trouble at 80-7.
Aakash dusted off Sudip Aryal and Shishir Bhusal in the second and sixth delivery of the 27th over respectively before Milan rounded off the victory removing captain Subash Bhandari, who had presented some resistance with a slow 53 ball-16 knock.
Milan, who also bowled four maiden overs, was adjudged player of the match.
Earlier, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, Sudurpaschim posted 213 after lower order batter Aakash hit 40 runs facing 45 deliveries.
Sudurpaschim captain Anurag Singh made 37 off 71 balls.
Gandaki’s Subash Bhandari returned 3-30 that included the scalps of openers Deepak Bohara (11) and Bishal Ayer (6) and Milan (24).
Naren added 28 runs while Gajendra Bohara, Sunil and Hemant Dhami contributed 19 runs each.
The third loss in as many matches pits Gandaki at the bottom of the table.
Sudurpaschim moved to the top of the table with six points. Bagmati Province, the only other unbeaten team in the seven-team standings, are second, also on six points.
In the day’s other match at the Mulpani cricket ground, Karnali Province defeated Madhesh Province by two wickets despite a five-wicket haul from Yunish Singh.
Chasing 136, Karnali reached 139-8 in 34.4 overs after opener Manish Thapa gave them a solid start to their innings hitting 32 runs off 34 balls. Thapa also put on a 46-run stand with Anirudh Kunwar, who made 16, for the second wicket to anchor the Karnali innings.
Thapa was bowled by Ranjit Kumar in the 9.6 overs.
Kumar was the pick of the Madhesh bowling returning 5-23 that also included the scalps of Kunwar, Roshan Shahi (1), Suwash Ayer (14) and Sandip Shahi (5).
Karnali were reeling at 6-84 when Kumar’s venomous 10-over spell—that also included three maiden overs—ended.
But number seven batter Mohan BK staged a late resistance with an unbeaten 38 to guide Karnali to their first victory of the tournament.
Abijit Mandal took two wickets while Rajesh Yadav picked one.
Earlier, Madhesh, who elected to bat first after winning the toss, crawled to 135 all out in 41.5 overs after Karnali’s Yunish Singh starred with the ball taking 10-2-35-5.
Madhesh openers Mayan Yadav (18) and Shailendra Sah (31) shared a 45-run partnership to give them a bright start.
Ganesh Dadel removed Mayan to break their opening stand and Singh bowled Sah to cause further damage.
Karnali then kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Singh sent back Megh Raj Ram (16) and Imran Sheikh (5).
After Dablu Malik (15) was caught by Ayer off BK in the 22.5 overs, Madhesh could not regroup and were skittled for a low total, with no batters reaching the double digit figures.
Sarfraj Mansuri (17) was the last to fall, caught by Anuj Chanara off Aawash Shah, another standout bowler, who took 2-9 in his 6.5 over spell.
Sudurpaschim will aim to maintain their winning streak when they take on Province 1 on Monday. Gandaki face Lumbini in the day’s other fixture.
