An explosive knock from openers Padam KC and Sonu Tamang helped Chauraha hammer Santoshi Tole by 87 runs in the Dhangadi Cricket League-3 (DCL-3) here on Saturday.

KC and Tamang put on a massive 150-run stand for the first wicket as Chauraha posted 219-2 in 20 overs. KC was first of the two wickets to fall at 150-1 but by then the damage had already been done. Tamang carried on with the same vein but was dismissed five runs short of his century in the last over of their innings. KC struck 11 fours and two sixes in his 50-ball stay in the crease, while Tamang clobbered eight boundaries and seven sixes in his entertaining 55-ball knock. Yogendra Singh Karki remained unbeaten on 22 runs. Mahesh Adhikari and Biplov Bista took one wicket each for Santoshi Tole.

In reply, Santoshi Tole were restricted to 132-9 in 20 overs with Bijay Rana top scoring for the side with 32-ball 42. Prem Auji were their next best contributor with 29. KC return to take four wickets to derail the Santoshi Tole run chase. Man-of-the-match KC conceded just nine runs in his four-over spell. Tamang also took 2-27, while Kiran Kumar Thagunna, Yogendra Singh Karki and Aman Panthi bagged one wicket each for Chauraha.

The result meant Chauraha climbed to third in the five-team standings with seven points, while pushing Attariya down to fourth place on net run-rate alone. Santoshi Tole dropped to the bottom of the table with four points from seven matches.

In the day’s first match, Hasanpur Royal climbed to second in the standings with five-wicket win over Attariya. Attariya posted 122 all out in 19.5 overs before Hasanpur replied with 126-5 in 19 overs. Naresh Bohara top scored for Attariya with 30-ball 29 and Surendra Chand chipped in with 17 runs as slow scoring rate and regular wickets restricted the side to a below-par total. Binod Lama claimed three and Prakash Thapa took two wickets for Hasanpur.

Hasanpur lost their top three batsmen cheaply to be 30-3 by the fifth over but Lalit Bam (28), Basant Singh Karki (20), Bhim Sarki (27) and Amit Padal (16) scored valuable runs to complete the run chase. Surendra Chand, Nabin Bhandari, Deepak Khatri and Gyanendra Kunwar picked up one wicket each for Attariya. Sarki and Padal jointly collected the man-of-the-match award.