Sports
Veteran Alam bats Biratnagar to win
Biratnagar, Janakpur and Birgunj recorded wins in the One-day National cricket tournament on Saturday.Biratnagar beat Dhangadi by seven wickets in a Group B match held at the TU ground. Batting first, Dhangadi were dismissed for 97 runs in 30.2 overs with Sunil Dhamala contributing 57-ball 40. Raj Kumar Pradhan and Puspa Thapa took three wickets each while Mehboob Alam and Gunanand Roy bagged two apiece for Biratnagar.
Alam returned to score an unbeaten half century to complete the Biratnagar run chase for the loss of three wickets in 15.4 overs. Biratnagar lost three wickets to be 55-3 in the 10th over before Alam steered his team home with 57 not out. Man-of-the-match Alam struck seven fours and two sixes in his 41-ball knock. Lalit Bhandari took 2-31 for Dhangadi.
In another Group B match held in Pulchowk, Janakpur defeated Nepalgunj by three wickets. Nepalgunj were restricted to 156 runs in 32.4 overs before Janakpur overcame the total for the loss of seven wickets in 30 overs. Nepalgunj had their top order batsmen — Suvendu Pandey (28), Siddhant Raj Shahi (25), Prajwol Shahi (24) and Bhupendra Thapa (20) — to thank for the total. Rahul Pratap Singh claimed three while Mukesh Jha and Hari Shanker Sah grabbed two wickets each for Janakpur.
Janakpur lost wickets at regular intervals but Raj Mohammad held firm at the one end to ensure his team reach the target despite losing seven wickets. Mohammad remained unbeaten on 80. His 93-ball knock included 12 hits to the fence. Mukesh Jha (32) was the only other Janakpur batsman to score in double figure. Amar Singh Rautela and Akash Bista bagged two wickets each for Nepalgunj.
In a Group A match held in Pokhara, Birgunj hammered Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) by 122 runs. Birgunj posted 205 in 42.4 overs. But the total turned out to be more than enough as TAC were skittled out for 83 runs in 27.2 overs.
Birgunj owed to Anil Sah (46) and Arif Seikh (44) for posting the total.They were also indebted to 44 extras conceded by TAC. Rupesh Shrivastav, Rajesh Pulami and Dipendra Chand claimed three wickets each for TAC.
Surendra Chand top scored with 26 runs in a hapless TAC batting performance. Man-of-the-match Ram Naresh Giri claimed three wickets while Gaurav Singh and Seikh took two apiece for Birgunj.




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