Kathmandu, May 13:

Kantipur City College (KCC) ‘Red’ and Triton College advanced to the semi-finals of the Kist Bank Sixth KCC Running Trophy cricket tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today. In the first quarter-final match of the day, hosts KCC hammered National Campus for Business Studies (NCBS) by 84 runs thanks to an explosive knock of unbeaten 82-run from the national team opener Dipendra Chaudhary and a five wicket haul from Amit Alok. KCC scored 154-3 in 20 overs and dismissed NCBS for 70 with five balls to spare. Dipendra opened the KCC innings with national team allrounder Mehaboob Alam, putting on 28 before the latter was dismissed by Nirmal Simangaida in the fourth over. Alam made 16 off 15 balls. Dipendra got valuable support from Manoj Biashya (26) and national team veteran Shakti Gaucchan (17, retired hurt), in amassing the huge total. Dipendra struck four sixes and five fours in his 51-ball innings. Simangaida and Bidhan Giri claimed one wicket each for NCBS. NCBS openers Bidhan Giri (19) and Rupesh Sharma (17) gave their team a reasonable start putting on 31 runs but their dismissal in the space of 10 runs meant they lost their last eight wickets for 29 runs. Prakash Pariyar (14) was only the other NCBS batsman to score in double figures. Man of the match Amit Alok claimed 5-10 off a tight four overs including a hat-trick. Raj Kumar Pradhan and T Rajan also grabbed two wickets each. In the other quarter-final match, Triton crushed Purbanchal University School of Engineering and Technology (PUSET) by 101 runs. Electing to bat first, Triton made 156-6 and restricted PUSET for a paltry 55 runs in 16.1 overs. Man of the match Puspa Thapa struck a fiery 56 for Triton after opener Prem Chaudhary (41 off 40 balls) had laid the foundation for a big total. Puspa stroked seven fours and two sixes in his 28-ball knock. Manjeet Singh also chipped in 16 and Sagar Pun made 14. Rabi Gartaula, Saroj Deo and Kundan Singh claimed one wicket apiece for PUSET. In reply, tailender Pravin Pradhan top scored with 20 for PUSET as none of the other batsmen could reach the double figures. Rupesh Shirvastav, Ritesh Singh and Ajay Rajbanshi took two wickets each while Bijay Gautam, Manjit Shrestha and Keshav Yadav bagged one apiece for Triton.