KATHMANDU:Dang and Rupandehi set championship date after winning the Inter-school (District) Twenty20 National Cricket Tournament semi-finals here on Saturday.

Dang dispatched Makwanpur by six wickets while Rupandehi eased to a nine-wicket win over Jhapa. Rupandehi was drafted in for the semi-final despite their quarter-final loss to Bara on Friday. Bare were penalised for breaching tournament rules following a protest from Rupandehi. Held at the Tribhuvan University Stadium, Makwanpur made 83-9 in their allotted 20 overs after electing to bat first. Dang chased the target losing four wickets in 19.3 overs.

Makwanpur were struggling at 14-3 in the fifth over before Bijay Ghalan and skipper Sanjay Maharjan put on 35-run stand to consolidate their innings. However, Makwanpur could only add further 34 runs after Sanjay was dismissed at 49-5. Bijaya scored 28 off 56 balls including four hits to the fence. Sanjay scored 15 off 17 with one six and a four. Man of the match Bhupendra Roka was key to restrict Makwanpur from posing a big total with a burst of four wickets in four overs. Saroj Basnet also claime two while Bijay Rokaya, Kharka GM and Ramesh Thapa took one apiece.

Dang over came the total with three balls to spare thanks mainly to 30 sundries conceded by Makwanpur. Gopl Pun top scored for Dang with an unbeaten 16 and Ramesh Thapa chipped in with 14 runs. Naresh Raj Giri grabbed two and Robin Gurung bagged one wicket for Makwanpur.

In the other semi-finals at the Laboratory School, Jhapa were dismissed for 42 runs in 16.1 over before Rupandehi chased the total losing one wicket in 10 overs. Binaya Karki was the stand out batsman for Jhapa with 13 runs. Niraj Neupane was the next best contributor with six runs. Jhapa scored just 25 runs with the bat with rest of the other coming through extras. Man of the match Kasam Thapa claimed three while Dewendra Somale, Man Bahadur Thapa and Ikhalaque Ahamed took two wickets each for Rupandehi.

In reply Prithvi Chhetri scored unbeaten 22 and Susan Bari made 13 not out as Rupandehi surpassed the target losing one wicket in 10 overs. Kiran Pandey (naught) was the only Rupandehi wicket to fall, caught by Binaya Karki off Neema Lama. Prithvi stroked two sixes and a four his his 29-ball innings.