CHITWAN, Dec 15: Rapti Cricket Club have claimed the title of the Gautam Buddha Cup T-20 cricket tournament defeating Narayani by nine runs in the thrilling finals played in Bharatpur on Tuesday.
Putting bat first, national team member Binod Bhandari’s Rapti scored 143-8. In response Narayani scored only 134 losing 9 wickets.
Rapti got a solid start as openers Amit Shrestha and Kushal Bhurtel played 51-run partnership for the first wicket. The man-of-the-series Bhurtel cracked 42 runs off 31 before being bowled by Shahab Alam. He hit fences twice and struck four sixes. His opening pair Shrestha contributed 18 runs from 17 deliveries.
Skipper Binod Bhandari who came to bat at number 7 also made decent contributions scoring 33 off 21. He hit four boundaries and a six. Sumit Maharjan and Sharad Vesawkar were the other players to score in double digits and contributed 22 runs and 10 runs respectively.
Shahab Alam was the most successful bowler for Narayani grabbing three wickets. He gave away 19 runs in his four-over spell. Sushan Bhari pocketed two wickets.
In the run chase, Narayani lost opener Raju Rijal (6) for just 11 runs on the board. But Rit Gautam and Ishan Pandey, who contributed equal 27 runs apiece, shared 51-run stand for the second wicket before Pandey was sent to pavilion.
Coming to bat at number four, Aafir Sheikh gave a strong hope for Narayani scoring 48 off 31. He hit four boundaries and three sixes before he was caught by Kushal Bhurtel off Avinash Bohara. But his contribution went in vain as Narayani lost remaining batsmen cheaply in the regular interval.
Bohara claimed three wickets in his three-over spell while Bhuvan Karki picked two wickets.
Mayor of Chitwan Metropolitan City Renu Dahal handed over the cup and prizes.
