Sangita Rai turns the heat for Province Number 1; Suman Khatiwada stars in Bagmati Province win

Sangita Rai took three wickets in an over as Province Number 1 defeated Sudur Paschim Province (SPP) by five wickets in the Prime Minister Cup in Lamahi on Wednesday (December 30). SPP, who opened their campaign with a resounding win the previous day, looked out of sorts on the day and got even worse with Rai turning the heat on.



Batting first, SPP were three down at just 15 runs on board with Rewati Dhami, Rubi Poddar and Kabita Kunwar all going back to the pavilion with single digits. Things turned even worse when Rai (3/10) dismissed Ritu Kanoujiya, skipper Bindu Rawal and Manju Bokati in the ninth over to break the opposition’s backbone.



Kabita Joshi did try her best with an unbeaten 14 to take the score past the 50-run mark, but it was too late with the damage already been done. Sabnam Rai was the other bowler who shined for Province Number 1 taking 2/14.



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In reply, Province Number 1 recovered from quite a few hiccups to overhaul the target in 15.1 overs losing five wickets in the process. Skipper Rubina Chhetri (12) top-scored for them.



In the other match of the day, an allround performance from Suman Khatiwada (31 and 1/14) helped Bagmati Province beat Gandaki Province by 65 runs. Opting to bat first, Bagmati started on a bright note adding 76 runs for the opening wicket. ‘



The openers Binda Katwal (38) and Kanchan Shrestha (27) made most of their time in the middle as they played some delightful shots during their stay to keep the opposition bowlers at bay. The partnership was finally broken when Shrestha was run out in the 11^th over.



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Katwal then added another 53 runs for the second wicket with Khatiwada to take the score close to the 150-run mark. Chasing 154, the Gandaki batters were in dire straits losing a couple of wickets with just 16 runs on board.



Srishti Poudel (26) and Shila Chhetri (30) resurrected the sinking ship with a 60-run partnership for the third wicket but wasted a lot of balls in doing so making it difficult for the others to make any impact. They finally finished at 88/5 in 20 overs.



Meanwhile, it was a dream come true moment for 13-year-old Jyotsnika Marasini, who played for Gandaki Province as she bowled three overs conceding just 13 runs and scored six runs with the bat. She was not even born 13 years ago when Nepal made their international debut in the ACC Women’s Tournament.



Brief scores:



Bagmati Province: 153/4 in 20 overs (Binda Katwal 38, Suman Khatiwada 31) beat Gandaki Province 88/5 in 20 overs (Shila Chhetri 30; Suman Khatiwada 1/14) by 65 runs.



Sudur Paschim Province: 53/8 in 16 overs (Sangita Rai 3/10) lost to Province Number 1 54/5 in 15.1 overs (Rubina Chhetri 12) by five wickets.