Kathmandu, June 23:

Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) won their maiden national cricket championship after a thumping 94-run victory over Region No 3 (Kathmandu) in the final of the Shikhar Senior One Day National Cricket Tournament here today.

Region No 1 (Biratnagar) won the first four editions while Region No 2 (Birgunj) won the championship last year, with Bhairahawa finishing runners-up in three editions.

Batting first, Bhairahawa scored 212-8 in their allotted 50 overs before restricting Kathmandu to 118 in 40 overs.

Openers Dipesh Khatri and Manoj Vaisya laid the foundation for Bhairahawa with a stand of 77 runs. Khatri made 50 off 108 balls hitting four fours and Vaisya scored 70-ball 28.

Skipper Shakti Gauchan scored 38-ball 32 and Aakash Gupta quickfired with 31 off 27 balls that included two fours and a six. Sagar Khadka and Vijay Thapa chipped in 16 runs each.

Paras Khadka claimed 3-26 and was ably supported by Akhtar (2-42) and Basnet (2-52).

Sharad Vesawkar top-scored with 33-ball 22 in Kathmandu’s run chase. Captain Paresh Lohani and Paras Khadka scored 19 runs each. Lohani’s 71-ball knock included two fours while Paras struck two sixes over long off and a four, all in the same over off Vijay Thapa.

Vijay Thapa returned with 3-23 while Basanta Regmi and Rahul Kumar BK claimed two wickets each for Bhairahawa.

Paras Khadka was declared the man of the series while Sunil Bista and Mehboob Alam, both of Biratnagar, won the best batsman and bowler award respectively. Khadka scored 68 runs and took seven wickets. Bista scored 76 runs including a half century. Alam took nine wickets.

The winners and runners up received Rs 75,000 and Rs 40,000 respectively. Man of the series won Rs 15,000 while the man of the final, best batsman and bowler got Rs 10,000 each.