A star-studded Golden Gate International College hammered Omega College by 63 runs in their first match of the College Cricket League Twenty20 at the TU grounds on Wednesday.

Put in to bat first in Group ‘D’ match, Golden Gate built on the foundation laid by national team duo Sharad Vesawkar and Dipendra Singh Airee along with a half century from Sumit Maharjan to pile up 171-9 in 20 overs. Against a strong Golden Gate bowling line up, Omega could only muster 108-6 in 20 overs.

Former U-19 speedster Nandan Yadav gave early breakthroughs to Golden Gate reducing Omega to 21-2 in 4.5 overs. Amrit Thapa and Ravi Singh kept Omega in the game with a 53-run partnership but Yadav, Amar Sigh Routela, Abinash Bohora, Airee, Dipendra Rawat and Prithu Baskota managed to contain the remaining batsmen.

Singh scored 39 off 28 with six fours and a six and Thapa made 28 off 37 with four hits to the fence. Abhiyan Basnet (18) was the other Omega batsman to make runs in double figures. Apart from Nandan, Routela, Bohora, Rawat and Airee took a wicket each for Golden Gate.

Airee and Vesawkar (22) had given Golden Gate a desired start collecting 57 runs for the opening wicket in 4.2 overs. Omega hit back picking up five wickets in a space of 11 runs reducing Golden Gate to 67-5 in 8.5 overs. Airee smashed five boundaries and a six in his 12-ball 33. Maharjan defied the Omega attack with a match-winning 89-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Sushant Singh Thapa.

Maharjan scored 65 off 35 with four sixes and as many boundaries, while Sushant made 24 off 25. Maniratna Kumar Shah took 3-21 from four overs for Omega. Afjal Ali and Abhiyan Basnet also had two scalps apiece.

Nepal Commerce Campus, meanwhile, remained in contention for the semi-finals easing to a 47-run victory over Shankar Dev Campus. NCC had lost to Himalayan College in their first Group ‘B’ match and will now await the result of the match between Shankar Dev and the latter to learn their fate in the tournament.

Batting first, Amit Shrestha once again gave a half century stand to NCC adding 52 runs for the first wicket with Prakash Bista as they reached 154-7 in 20 overs. Man-of-the-match Dipen Thapa took three and Bhuwan Karki had two scalps to restrict Shankar Dev to 107-8. Rabindra Chand top scored for Shankar Dev making a 36-ball 42 with two sixes and a four.

Earlier, Shrestha made 28 off 24 with five boundaries and Bista scored 24 off 16 with four hits to the fence. Yogesh Bhat (21)  and Hari Krishna Jha (17 not out) were other notable contributors for NCC. Lalit Pyakurel took two wickets for Shankar Dev.