CCRC clinch Twenty20 trophy

Kathmandu, July 12:

Hosts Capital College and Research Centre (CCRC) ‘A’ won the third CCRC Twenty20 Inter-college Cricket Tournament here today.

The win, however, came in bizzare circumstances. Chasing 103 set by Classic College, CCRC needed three runs to win with 19 balls to spare when Aakash Gupta struck the ball towards the boundary only to be denied by the Classic fielders. But CCRC supporters invaded the ground considering it to be the winning runs. Infuriated Classic refused to take to the field and the umpires awarded the match to CCRC.

Earlier, Classic were bowled out for 102 runs in 18. 4 overs after electing to bat first. Classic were tottering at 23-7 in the seventh over but contribution from Pradeep Airee (24), Dhirendra Chand (23) and Dinesh Agri (23) helped their team pose a respectable total. Chand struck two sixes and a four in his 17-ball innings while Agri hit three sixes in his 14-ball cameo. Man of the match Abhaya Rana claimed 4-26 for CCRC. Sanjam Regmi also picked up two while Mehboob Alam and Gyanendra Malla took one wicket each.

In reply, CCRC openers made a solid start putting on 40 runs in just 23 balls with Alam doing much of the damage. When Pawan Das (3) was dismissed in the last ball of the fourth over, Alam had already scored 36 off 16 balls with two sixes and four fours. Alam was also dismissed without scoring a run three balls later but by then CCRC were already cruising towards a comfortable victory.

Aakash Gupta remained unbeaten on 17 and Sagar Thapa made 10 not out. Anil Mandal chipped in with 14. When the match was obstructed CCRC were level on scores at 102-5. Kuldeep Khadka finished with 2-12 while Dhirendra Chand, Chandra Saud and Binod Bhandari took one wicket each for Classic.

Sunam Gautam of Kathmandu Don Bosco, who scored 78 runs and took seven wickets, was declared the man of the series. Gautam was awarded with Rs 10,000. Gyanendra Malla of CCRC ‘A’, who scored 103 runs, won the best batsman (104 runs) award while Pradeep Airee of Classic, who took eight wickets, was adjudged the best bowler. Malla and Airee won Rs 5,000 each. Dinesh Agri of Classic also earned Rs 2,000 as the scorer of highest number of sixes. The winners and the runners up got Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.