With the excellent bowling of captain Bishal Bikram KC, former champions Lumbini Province have won their first victory by defeating Karnali Province by 6 wickets in the YYU-19 national tournament.
Chasing a winning target of 101 runs for victory, Lumbini finished losing 4 wickets in 20.5 overs. Lumbini’s Akash Tripathi remained unbeaten on 52 off 47 balls with 8 fours. Akash completed his half-century and the match by hitting Sandeep Shahi for a boundary.
Dev Khanal was dismissed for 8 runs after playing 17 balls. Vishal Bhushal was dismissed for 4, Vishal Vikram KC for 13, and Prajwal Thapa for 10 runs. Manoj Magar remained unbeaten on 9 runs. Anuj Chanara of Karnali took 2 wickets for 22 runs in 6 overs. Sandeep Shahi and Mohan B. took one wicket each.
Before that, Karnali, who won the toss and started batting first at the TU Cricket Ground, was all out for 100 runs in 22.2 overs. Karnali captain Bipin Rawal scored 36 runs off 39 balls with 5 fours and 1 six. Subas Air got out for 23 runs off 23 balls with 3 fours and 1 six. None of the other batters could perform well.
Vishal Vikram KC of Lumbini took 4 wickets with 17 runs in 4 overs with 2 maidens. Abhishek Gautam took 2 wickets for 27 runs in 4 overs. Nar Sarki, Nirmal Gurung, and Tul Bahadur Thapa took one wicket each.
Lumbini lost the first match against Sudurpaschim by 100 runs. Karnali was defeated by 5 wickets in the first match. Karnali will play against Madhesh in Mulpani on Sunday.
Lumbini will play Gandaki at Mulpani on Monday. Sudurpachsim is at the top position with 4 points from 2 games. Bagmati has 4 points in 2 matches but is in second place due to the net return rate. 7 state teams participate in this tournament, and after a single round robin, the top two teams will reach the finals.
