In another match, Region No 5 Nepalgunj rode on a superb unbroken century stand between Prajwol Shahi and Shubendu Pandey to defeat Region No 2 Birgunj by eight wickets at the Pulchowk Engineering College grounds.

Mukhiya, who had aggravated a hamstring injury and suffered back pain following the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, was playing his first official tournament and marked his comeback perfectly picking up 4-19 from nine overs as Biratnagar were skittled out for 191 in 47.4 overs. TAC had a roller coaster ride in their chase but half centuries from Anil Mandal and Mahesh Chhetri were enough to see them through, reaching 192-8 in 43 overs.

TAC, who lost Naresh Budhayer (three) early on, also fielded Sunam Gautam, who returned to Nepal for a break from his abroad studies in Australia where he has also been playing club cricket. But the former U-19 international hardly made any impact, losing his wicket for just 11 runs. Mandal and skipper Binod Bhandari (eight) took the team close to 50 runs before Lalit Rajbanshi removed the latter.

Chhetri stepped in and shared a 72-run stand with Mandal and another 38 with Rajesh Pulami Magar (31) to take his team close to victory. TAC did lose some quick wickets at end of their innings but their tailender held firm to take the team across the finishing line.

Chhetri made 61 off 89 balls with five boundaries, while Mandal scored 54 off 75 balls with five fours and a six. Middle order batsman Siddhant Lohani was an unlikely bowling hero for Biratnagar taking 4-27 including that of the leading scorers.

Earlier, Biratnagar were reeling at 65-6 in 23.2 overs before their tailenders showed enough guts to pull off a respectable total. No 8 batsman Jugal Chaudhary top scored with 43 off 62, hitting seven fours, while Manjeet Shrestha made 37 off 48 with three fours and two sixes.

No 10 Lakpa Lama (29) was their next best scorer. Apart from man-of-the-match Mukhiya, Avinash Karn and Rahul Kumar BK also picked up two wickets each for the youngest departmental team.

At Pulchowk, Birgunj failed to capitalise on a solid start provided by their openers and were restricted to 198 runs in 41.1 overs. Nepalgunj lost opener Siddhant Raj Shahi (16) and Anupam Singh (two) with 39 runs on the board before Prajwol and Pandey guided the team to 199-2 in just 34 overs with a 160-run unbroken stand.

Man-of-the-match Prajwol Shahi played a defining knock, scoring 96 off 87 with 11 boundaries and a six. Pandey played a role of a calm ally to Shahi scoring 58 off 70 with six hits to the fence.

Earlier, Amit Shrestha (26) and Rabi Thapa gave a perfect start to Birgunj with a 56-run stand for the first wicket before Shahi removed the latter for 43 off 42 balls. Thapa hit seven fours. Aakash Bista then got rid  of Shrestha before Suraj Prasad Kurmi defied Nepalgunj with a 66-ball 44 which included four fours.

No 8 batsman Ramnaresh Giri pushed Birgunj total close to 200 runs by contributing 38 off 45 balls with six fours. Bista was pick of the Nepalgunj bowlers with 4-33 from 9.1 overs. Amar Singh Routela, Avinash Bohora and Prajjwal also picked up two wickets apiece.