New Horizon of Butwal ousted holders Pentagon with a 44-run victory thanks to an inspirational performance from Shakti Gauchan who was playing his first match after the death of his father. Bowlers ran rampage as Sunshine of Butwal crushed Holyland HS School of Nepalgunj by 74 runs.

The day belonged to Shakti, who took to the field just one hour after reaching the venue from a long drive, who picked up 3-11 to bundle out Pentagon for just 111 in 16.1 overs in reply of New Horizon’s 155 all out with one ball to spare. “My father always arranged me to play cricket and he did it for this tournament as well. I will always be grateful to him,” said an emotional Gauchan.

Star-studded Pentagon were the clear favourites heading into the match. But after early strikes from Saurav Khanal and Sompal Kami, Gauchan broke the backbone of Pentagon batting dismissing Binod Bhandari and Rajesh Pulami Magar.

Sagar Pun did all the scoring giving Pentagon a quick start with a 40-run partnership with Naresh Budhayer (0). One ball later, Khanal removed Pun (40 off 16). Kami soon dismissed Mandal (5).

Gauchan stepped in and had Bhandari (two) caught by Prajapati in his first ball, ending the batsman’s fine run in the tournament. Bhandari had come into the match with two successive half centuries. Alam (11) was next to go, bowled by Prajapti. Gauchan struck again dislodging the bails of Magar (24 off 28), virtually ending Pentagon’s challenge. Khanal finished with 3-16 and Kami 2-29.

Earlier, Sandip Sunar and Nurdhoj Sen gave New Horizon a perfect start with a 52-run stand for the first wicket allowing a great platform for their middle order batsmen. Sen top scored with 33 off 29 balls and Sunar made 29 off 23. Both batsmen hit five fours and a six each.

Sushan Bhari Shrestha (16 off eight) and Rupesh Bastola (16 off nine) did the damage from the lower middle order. BK was pick of the Pentagon bowlers with 4-15 while Pun (3-39) and Nischal Pandey (2-31) shared six wickets.

In the second semi-finals, Sunshine amassed 167-7 before Mayank Yadav’s 4-29 saw Holyland dismissed for 93 in 19.2 overs. Opener Siddhant Raj Shahi made 28 off 23. No 10 Nizamuddin Halwai chipped in 17 runs. Shaban Ali and Subodh Srivastav also claimed two wickets each.

Sunshine had a bright start when Shankar Rana (42) and Srivastav (30) put on 54 runs for the first wicket. Nischal Chaudhary (29), Sabin Shakya (23) and Antim Thapa (19) added valuable runs batting in the middle order to consolidate their total. Akash Bista took two wickets for Holyland.