Kathmandu: Nepal SBI Bank advancd to the semi-finals of the UWTC Inter-corporate Twenty20 Cricket Tournament with a 21-run win over Casino Royale here today.

Batting first at the Tundikhel grounds, SBI Bank scored 103-4 in their allotted 20 overs and restricted Casino Royale for 82 runs in 18 overs. Durga Bhattarai top scored with a sedate 31 runs for SBI Bank. Bhattarai struck three boundaries in his 56-ball knock. Bishnu Lamichhane also made a fluent 20, hitting three fours and a six in his 15-ball innings while Monish Shrestha contributed a valuable 15 off 17 balls. Prem Chand took 2-7 from two overs for Casino Royale. Tara Joshi, Amit Singh Khadka and Hari Joshi also grabbed one wicket apiece.

Royale Casino fell 22 runs short of their victory target in the absence of a solid partnership. Prem Chand and Amit Singh Khadka scored 15 runs each. While Chand scored his runs in just nine balls, Amit Singh took 36 balls to score his 15. Dipeshwor Manandhar and Hari Joshi also chipped in with 12 runs each.

Durga Bhattarai returned to take 3-14 from four overs to earn the man of the match honour. Abhhishek Sharma, Milan Shrestha and Min Gurung also claimed two wickets apiece for SBI Bank.

Both the teams needed victory to join Group ‘A’ leaders Nepal Telecom in the semi-finals. Nepal Telecom had already secured the semi-final berth with three wins in as many matches. SBI finished with four points, one more than Casino Royale. Casino Shangri-La ended bottom of the table with just one point.

Casino Everest have already made it to the semi-finals from Group ‘B’ with seven points. Winners of Tuesday’s match between Sunrise Bank (four points) and Everest Bank (three points) will join Casino Everest in the last four.

The semi-finals are also scheduled for Tuesday. Nepal SBI will take on Casino Everest in the first semi-final while Nepal Telecom will meet the winners of the match between Sunrise and Everest Bank.