Kathmandu, March 27

Jitendra Mukhiya took six wickets as Tribhuvan Army Club thrashed Far-west Development Region by eight wickets and advanced to the semi-finals of the first Prime Minister Cup One-day National Men’s Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.

TAC made it to the last four from Group B along with Nepal Police Club as both the teams accumulated four points with wins over Eastern and Far-western regions. Eastern and Far-western — who shared points after their match was washed out due to rain yesterday — were eliminated from the group stage. The group winners will be decided after the match between TAC and NPC slated for Sunday.

Opting to bat first, Far-west were bowled out for a paltry 50 runs in 22 overs after Mukhiya’s heroic performance and TAC completed the target in just 6.3 overs with eight wickets in hand. Far-west’s Basant Khatri, who hit one each four and six in his 27-ball 20, was the lone batsman to score in double figures.

Mukhiya, who bowled his full quota of 10 overs in a single spell, made an early breakthrough when he had Far-west skipper Surendra Chand (one) caught behind by Raju Rijal in the fifth ball of the second over with only one run on the board. Mukhiya, who was ably supported by Sagar Pun (3-10) and Sushan Bhari (1-6), did not give Far-west batsmen chance to settle at the crease by taking wickets at regular interval. Mukhiya maintained three maiden overs while conceding 22 runs.

Mukhiya, who did not feature in their first match against Eastern Region, replaced medium pacer Avinash Karn, who sat out due to injury. “TAC have a number of fast bowlers but I got chance as Karn is injured. I had to prove myself as a bowler in 50-over format as I am best known in shorter version. And today’s performance will be helpful for me,” said Mukhiya.

“Taking six wickets is something that sounds great but the results came after a hard work of three months. And I have to work even harder to come up with better results,” added Mukhiya, who was named the man-of-the-match and received Rs 5,000. His team also earned Rs 25,000 as victory bonus.

TAC raced to victory with skipper Binod Bhandari scoring an unbeaten 15-ball 21 hitting four boundaries. Sagar Pun and Anil Kumar Mandal scored 10 runs each. Pun hit a six and Mandal’s innings included a boundary. Far-west’s Sagar Bhandari (1-26) and Binod Lama (1-22) shared TAC wickets that fell.