Kathmandu, March 31:

Kathmandu opened with a crushing nine-wicket win over Tribhuvan University (TU) while Lalitpur battled to a narrow five-run victory over Nuwakot in the Springwood Senior One-day Regional Selection Cricket Tournament today.

At TU Stadium, TU were bundled out for 63 runs in 16.3 overs with only Ram Pradhan (13) and Tek Raj Pandey (11) managing to score in double figures. Man of the match Paras Khadka (4-20) and Raman Shrestha (4-36) were the architect for the TU misery.

Star-studded Kathmandu overcame the target losing one wickets in just 6.4 overs thanks to Monish Shrestha’s explosive half century. Monish struck four sixes and as many fours in his 23-ball knock. Kathmandu stars Paresh Lohani, Dipendra Chaudhary, Sarad Vesawkar and Paras were all pushed downed the order after restricting the opponents to a low total.

In Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya, Laliltpur scored 147-8 in 30 overs with man of the match Sandeep Yadav contributing 41 and Pravin Shakya not out 22. Rakesh Singh took 2-31 while Pramod Basnet, Ritesh Singh, Keshav Yadav and Rom Shrestha claimed one wicket each for Nuwakot.

In reply, Nuwakot could only manage 142-7 in the allotted overs despite 41-run contributions from Rikesh Lama and Pramod Basnet. Pravin Shakya and Manoj Sood bagged two wickets each while Prasanna Shakya and Suraj Basnet claimed one wicket each for Laliltpur.