The result saw three teams APF, TAC and Region-VIII (Pokhara) finish tied on four points from as many games but APF advanced on better nett run-rate. APF will now take group topper Region I (Biratnagar) on Sunday. The other semi-finals pits Region-II (Birgunj) against Region-IV (Bhairahawa).

Held at the Pokhara ground, APF chased down the 176-run target in 45 overs with veteran opener Paresh Lohani contributing 32 runs. Dipendra Chaudhary made 28 and Subash Pradhan 20 in a successful defending champions’ run chase. Suman Shrestha took three wickets for TAC. Earlier, none of the TAC batsmen were able to score significantly apart from 114-ball 60 from Mahesh Chhetri. Ritesh Singh grabbed 3-32 while Yagya Man Kumal and Bhuwan Karki took two wickets each for APF.

At the Pulchowk Engineering College ground, Biratnagar completed the Group B campaign with 100 percent winning record. They beat Region-V (Nepalgunj) by 12 runs for the fifth successive win to finish top of the pool. Electing to bat, Biratnagar were restricted for a paltry 199 runs 40.4 overs but restricted Nepalgunj for 187 runs in 48.2 overs. Winless Nepalgunj finished bottom of the six-team group. Raj Kumar Pradhan, Puspha Thapa and Siddhant Lohani claimed two wickets apiece for Biratnagar.

At the TU ground, Region-III (Kathmandu) thumped Region-IX (Dhangadi) by 78 runs to finish third in Group B. Electing to bat first, Kathmandu posted 242-9 with Ashish Dhami and Suman Uday making 60 each. Man-of-the-match, Prabin Joshi returned with figures of 4-14 to derail the Dhangadi chase. Raju Rijal struck half century but his effort barely troubled Kathmandu.

Dhangadi failed to capitalise on a good start provided by openers Sunil Dhamala (42), Gyanendra Kunwar (33) but only Rijal came up with a fight with his 48-ball 52. Sonu Tamang took 3-39 for Kathmandu.