Yeti‚ Agni fly to semis

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Yeti Airlines and Agni Air entered the semi-finals of the first Wai Wai Corporate Premier League Twenty20 Cricket Tournament here at the TU Stadium today.

Yeti Airlines defeated Nepal Telecom by 34 runs to top Group ‘B’ while Agni Air hammered UNICEF by 103 runs to finish first in Group ‘C’. Both the teams accumulated four points in three-team groups.

Opting to bat first, Yeti Airlines amassed 188-6 before restricting Nepal Telecom for 154-8. Yeti got off to a flying start with openers Sandeep Shrestha and Narendra KC putting in 114 runs in 10.4 overs before the former was bowled by Pradeep Khatiwada. Man-of-the-match Sandeep struck 12 fours and a six in his 48-ball 75. Narendra scored 26 off 27, while Ravi Sharma hit six fours in his 19-ball 32.

Pradeep returned with 3-32 and was ably supported by Binay Pokhrel (2-23) for Nepal Telecom. In reply, Nepal Telecom failed to build partnerships and lost wickets on regular intervals. Dhirendra was the highest scorer with 31-ball 38 including seven fours. Divas Prajapati returned with 3-16 off four overs and Mohammad Rafi claimed 2-32 for Yeti Airlines.

In another match, Agni Air posted a mammoth 198-8 and packed UNICEF for a paltry 95-8. After early damages, Gaurav Jain and Rahul Bansal took the scores to three digits with a partnership of 79 runs for the third wicket. Man-of-the-match Gaurav hammered 14 boundaries in his 52-ball 74, while Rahul scored 44 off just 21 balls that included six fours and two sixes. Bibek Sharma Poudel took two wickets for UNICEF.

In reply, opener Will Parks (26) was the top scorer for UNICEF, while Binoy Dil Lama was next best with 13. Pradiumna and Samyam Rana Magar made 12 each .

Agni skipper Chiranj Shrivastav used 10 bowlers where Saurav KC returned with 2-18. On Sunday, Chaudhary Group will take on UNICEF in a meaningless match, while Everest Challengers are up against Max Media to fight it out for semi-final berths from Group ‘A’.