Ram Naresh Giri starred with ball and Prithu Baskota shone with bat for the second day in a row as Bagmati Province crushed Sudurpaschim Province by 180 runs to register their second victory in the Prime Minister Cup National one-day cricket tournament at the TU cricket ground in Kirtipur on Monday.

Put into bat first, Bagmati posted a target of 300 runs losing nine wickets on the back of 84 runs from Baskota and 63 runs from opener Adil Khan.

In bowling, Giri claimed four wickets including three in the first over as they bowled out Sudurpaschim for 119 runs in 21 overs.

With the win, Bagmati lead the Group 'B' standings with four points from two matches and are close to semi-finals berth in the four-team group. Sudurpaschim and Nepal Police Club, both of whom have lost their opening match to Bagmati, are yet to open account.

Khan, who lost his opening partner Aakash Thapa for 13 runs, scored 63 off 86. He shared 109-run third wicket partnership with Baskota before being caught out by Gajendra Bohara off Bhoj Raj Bhatta’s bowling. Khan cracked 10 boundaries in his patience knock.

Baskota, who had contributed unbeaten 48 runs in their opening match against Nepal Police Club, again scored the highest run for Bagmati. He hit 10 boundaries and two sixes in his 94-ball knock before he was caught out by wicketkeeper Sanju Damai.

Former national team captain Paras Khadka was out for 20 runs while national team and Bagmati skipper Gyanendra Malla contributed 32 runs. Bipin Acharya also scored 32 runs while Giri remained unbeaten on 10 runs.

Sudurpaschim's Narayan Joshi grabbed 10 wickets in his 10-over bowling giving away 68 runs. Bhoj Raj Bhatta and Santosh Bhatta claimed two wickets each.

Sudurpaschim’s run chase got an early blow after Giri, the man of the match, claimed three wickets in the first over. He removed Gajendra Bohara in the second ball of the innings, Arun Airee in the next ball and Saju Damai in the last ball of the first over.

Sudurpaschim lost their fifth wicket for just four runs on the board after Khadak Bohara and Santosh Bhatta were sent back to pavilion in the second and third overs with a score of just four runs.

Tailender Narayan Joshi, who remained unbeaten on 44 runs, was the highest scorer for Sudurpaschim while Arjun Saud contributed 31 runs. Joshi hit five sixes and a fence in his quickfire 29 ball knock. Kiran Thagunna, who scored 24 runs, was the only other batsman to score double-digit runs for Sudurpaschim.

Bagmati's Giri gave away 32 runs in his five-over spell while Nandan Yadav picked two wickets.

Gandaki register first win

Gandaki Province pulled their first victory of the campaign defeating Province 1 by 2 wickets at the Mulpani ground to inflict the latter second defeat in as many matches in Group 'A'.

Electing to bat first, Province 1 managed 102 runs losing all the wickets in 27.4 overs. In reply, Gandaki made 103-8 in 37 overs to register their first win in the second match.

Province 1 openers Minash Thapa and Deepak Paswan scored 22 runs and 11 runs respectively. Suvam Urao (12), captain Siddhant Lohani (24) and Dipesh Kandel (11) were the other batsmen to score double-digit runs.

Gandaki's Subash Bhandari and Bishal Paudel claimed four wickets apiece while Bipin Khatri pocketed two. Bhandari gave away 18 runs in his seven-over bowling with four maidens. The man-of-the-match Paudel conceded 25 runs in his 6.4-over bowling. His spell included first tournament hat-trick after he removed Rajan Magar, Manoj Tamang, Hemant Rai, the last three batsmen on the second, third and fourth ball of the 28th over.

In the run chase, Gandaki opener Arjun Kumal and Deepak Dumre scored 35 runs each. Kumal who was run out by Lohani hit five boundaries in his 65-ball knock. Wicketkeeper batsman Dumre hit four fences facing 94 deliveries. Avishek Thapa who remained unbeaten on 13 runs was the other batsman to score in double figures.

Province 1 bowler Minash Thapa and Shuvankar Arao claimed two wickets each.

Lumbini will take on Province 2 at the TU ground and Gandaki will vie with Karnali Province on Tuesday.