Triton, KCC in quarter-finals

KATHMANDU: Triton College and Kantipur City College (KCC) ‘Red’ advanced to the quarter-finals of the Kist Bank Sixth KCC Running Trophy Nationwide Inter-college Cricket Tournament here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.

Triton College advanced with a thrilling four-run victory over Rajarshi Janak Campus (RJC) in Group ‘D’. National College for Business Studies also made it to the last four as runners up.

Put into bat first, Triton managed 108-5 before restricting RJC for 104-9 in the 18-over-a-side match. Triton’s total was built around contributions from Ajay Rajbanshi (20 not out), Manjeet Shrestha (19 not out), Puspa Thapa (19), Sagar Pun (18), Prem Chaudhary (11) and Manoj Sood (10). Sanjog Karn was the pick of the RJC bowlers with 2-24 from four overs while Kumar Prasun and Shobhakant Pandey took one wicket apiece.

New ball bowler Rupesh Shrivastav blew apart RJC run chase dismissing openers Pralahd Shah (naught) and Deepak Jha (six) cheaply. Although No 3 batsman Raj Mohammed chipped in with 26-ball 22, no other RJC batsmen supported Shobhakant in his effort to run the target. Shobhakant remained unbeaten on 32, hitting two boundaries in his 35-ball knock. Jitendra Malik (14) was the only other RJC batsman to score in double figures. Man of the match Rupesh (3-13) and Ajay Rajbanshi (3-19) were the most successful of the Triton bolwers. Ritesh Singh also claimed 2-29.

In the other rain-affected match, hosts KCC ‘Red’ defeated Purbanchal University School of Engineering & Technology (PUSET) by 38 runs. Both KCC and PUSET qualified for the quarter-finals from Group B.

Batting first, KCC scored 87-5 in the match reduced to eight-over-a-side. National team alrounder Mehboob Alam struck a fiery 25 off 15 balls, including three fours and a six. Dipendra Chaudhary blasted 23 off 11 balls with three fours and a six. Kundan Singh and Nitesh Pradhan claimed two wickets each and Pravin Pandey took one for PUCET.

In reply, PUSET could only manage 49-3. PUSET never looked in contention despite opener Kundan Singh leading the fightback with three fours and a six in his unbeaten 28-ball 34. Dipendra Chaudhary and Amit Alok claimed one wicket each for KCC ‘Red’.