Birgunj, October 19:

Region No 3 (Kathmandu) became the third team to make it to the semi-finals of the Sintez Twenty20 National Cricket Tournament here with a seven-wicket victory over Region No 6 (Baitadi) today. In another match between the teams that have already advanced to the last four, Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) defeated Region No 1 (Biratnagar) by 32 runs.

Opting to bat first, Baitadi could only muster 84 runs 19.3 overs thanks to a fiery bowling spell from Paras Khadka. Baitadi were in trouble early on when Khadka claimed four quick wickets. Baitadi were reeling at 4-4 after Khadka, who finished with 4-5 from three overs, dismissed Prem Chaudhary, Shakti Bhandari, Dhirendra Chand and Pradeep Airee. Opener Binod Bhandari scored 19 runs for Baitdai.

In reply, Kathmandu had a poor start losing opener Dipendra Chaudhary in the opening ball of their innings but allrounder Khadka returned to guide his team to a comfortable victory. Man of the match Khadka scored unbeaten 42 as Kathmandu overcame the target losing three wickets in 15 overs. Sharad Vesawkar also chipped in with 18 and Gyanendra Malla run a ball 10. Dipendra Chand took two wickets for Baitadi.

Earlier in the first match, Bhairahawa made 121-7 and restricted Biratnagar to 89-9 in 20 overs. Antim Thapa scored 23 while Bijay Thapa and Depen Lamgade contributed 21 runs each for Bhairahawa. Mehboob Alam claimed two wickets for Biratnagar. Pawan Das top scored for Biratnagar with 25 runs while Alam chipped in 19. Lal Bahadur Adhikari took three wickets for Bhairahawa and was declared the man of the match.

Region No 5 (Nepalgung) will face Baitadi and Kathmandu will meet Bhairahawa on Monday.