Region No. 3 Kathmandu, Region No. 2 Birgunj, Region No. 5 Nepalgunj and Armed Police Force won their respective matches in the first day of the Pepsi Standard Chartered Senior T20 National Tournament that kicked off in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Kathmandu defeated Region No. 4 Bhairahawa by 84 runs from Group A while Birgunj beat Region No. 1 Biratnagar by nine wickets, Nepalgunj defeated Region No. 7 Janakpur by 25 runs and APF thrashed Region No. 8 Pokhara by 92 runs from Group B.

In the first inning held at TU Ground today, Kathmandu posted a target of 163 runs with the loss of five wickets as Bivatsy Thapa scored 44 runs, Arjun Adhikari 33 runs and Suraj KC 26 runs. Fazlur Rehman Khan of Bhairahawa grabbed two wickets.

While chasing the target, Bhairahawa were restricted just to 78 runs in 14.1 overs. Anil Karki grabbed four wickets while Niraj Basnet took three and Prakash Bista two for Kathmandu. Basnet was declared man of the match as he also scored 17 runs for the winning team.

In another match held at the same ground, Birgunj beat Region No. 1 Biratnagar by nine wickets as the winning team easily met the target of 85 runs in 14.1 overs.

Amit Shrestha scored 43 runs while Hasim Ansari 19 runs and Suraj Patel 18 runs. Man of the match alone took three wickets for Birgunj against Biratnagar.

Meanwhile, in the match played at Pulchowk Engineering Ground today itself, Nepalgunj won against Janakpur by 25 runs as Nepalgunj’s powerful bowling held Janakpur just to 117 runs against the target of 142 runs. Aakash Bista and Nijamuddin Halwahi took three wickets each for Nepalgunj.

Similarly, in another match held at Pulchowk Engineering, departmental team APF posted a target of 194 runs losing four wickets against Pokhara. In reply, Pokhara was restricted just to 101 losing six wickets as Bhuwan Karki and Rom Shrestha named two wickets each in their folds from the winning team.

APF’s Gyanendra Malla scored highest of 90 runs while Paras Khadka contributed 35 runs, Subash Khakurel 27 runs and Dipendra Chaudhary 24 runs. nepalnews.com / Rajin Rai