Rautahat Rising XI defeated Butwal Cricket Boys by four wickets in the Khukuri Challenger Twenty20 cricket tournament at the Mulpani Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

In the Group ‘D’ match, Rautahat bundled out Butwal for 131 in 16.4 overs. Rautahat were in dire straits before Ashutosh Singh rescued the side with an unbroken 42-run stand for the seventh wicket leading his to 134-6 in 19.1 overs.

Rautahat were quickly reduced to 25-3 before 56-run fourth wicket stand between Arvind Chaudhary and Salman Alam resurrected the innings. However, they went through a mini collapse losing both the set batsmen and were tottering at 92-6. Singh then forged a match-winning partnership with Ravi Sah (12 not out) guiding his side to victory.

Man-of-the-match Singh hit four boundaries in his 14-ball 28 not out, while Alam was the top scorer for Rautahat making a 27-ball 31 with three boundaries and two sixes. Chaudhary’s 33-ball 24 included two hits to the fence. Govinda Khatri (3-26) and Ashish Bhandari (2-28) shared five wickets between them for Butwal.

Earlier, Tul Bahadur Thapa had stolen the show in Butwal innings as the No 7 batsman smashed 10 sixes in his 22-ball 68 scoring more than 100 percent of his team total. Bishal Banjade (19) and Ashish Bhandari (16) were other batsmen to make runs in double figures. Sunil Mishra took 3-17, while Singh and Aashu Kandoi snared two wickets apiece.

Meanwhile, Makwanpur Cricket Club earned a walkover win from Inter Districts Sports Club after the latter fielded a player outside of their playing XI. Makwanpur protested over the decision and the match officials rewarded full three points to them.