Kathmandu, April 24

Region No. 6 (Baitadi) advanced to the final of the U-19 National Cricket Tournament topping the Group A Table with better run rate.

Baitadi defeated the Region No. 4 (Bhairahawa) by two wickets on Tuesday to topple the table with four points.

Defending champions Bhairahawa and Region No. 7 (Janakpur) too had four points in their tally but it was Baitadi that occupied the pole position with the run rate of +0.908 while the latter two had the run rate of + 0.763 and - 0.086 respectively.

At TU Ground, opting to field first Baitadi dismantled Bhairahawa in 30 overs for the paltry total 83 runs.

Binod Lama had five wickets haul in the destruction of Bhairahawa batting order. Yagya Man Kumal and Dipendra Airee also supported Lama dismissing two batsmen each.

Bhairahawa got the highest 25-run score in the board from extras while Sabin Ratna Shakya (15) and Krishna Sen (11) were the batsmen to contribute with double figure.

Baitadi, in reply, achieved the target in 27.2 overs with 87/8.

Santosh Bhatta top scored with 24 runs while Binod Lama was unbeaten with 15 runs at the crease for Baitadi.

Iklakh Ahmed Warsi picked four wickets to give Baitadi sacre but that was not enough for Bhairahawa to advance into the final.

At Engineering Ground, Janakpur registered 66 runs win against Region No. 5 (Nepalgunj).

Janakpur, batting first, collected 155 runs being all out in the 31.3 overs. Abishek Jha was not out with 32 runs while Rahul Pratap Singh (26) and Opener Chandan Jha (21) also contributed for Janakpur.

Amar Singh Rautela had four wickets and Afak Sheikh picked two for Nepalgunj.

In reply, Nepalgunj were packed for 89 runs in 23.5 runs as Mukesh Jha had five wickets haul for Janakpur.

Prajwol Shahi (39), Afak Sheikh (21) chipped in for Nepalgunj.