Tikapur Cricket Club and Inter-District Sport Club won their respective Group ‘D’ matches of the Khukuri Challenger Twenty20 cricket tournament on Friday. 

At the Mulpani Cricket Ground, Inter-District stunned group leaders Rautahat Rising XI by five wickets as they made 120-5 in 18.5 overs in reply to 118-8. Tikapur also registered their first victory of the tournament with a slim 10-run win over Butwal Cricket Boys. 

Put in to bat first, Tikapur were reduced to 26-2 before match-winning stand between Rabindra Jung Shahi and Rajan Sherchan guided them to 139-3 in 20 overs. Butwal Cricket Boys failed to build big partnerships before they were restricted to 129-6. 

Rabin Chhetri had kept Butwal in the game smashing a 25-ball 45 but his dismissal virtually ended the team’s challenge. Chhetri struck five fours and two sixes. Uday Pandey made 42 off 58 with five fours. Abhinav Yadav took two wickets for Tikapur.

Shahi and Sherchan had shared 95 runs for the third wicket leading their team to what was a winning total. Man-of-the-match Shahi top scored with 65 off 52 balls with eight fours and a six, while Sherchan hit nine boundaries in his 45-ball 50. 

In the second match of the day, man-of-the-match Prakash Jaisi got involved in a 71-run fifth wicket partnership with Manjil Gurung as Inter-District won the match with seven balls to spare. Jaisi was unbeaten on 45 off 37 with four boundaries and Gurung struck four fours in his 32-ball 35. Sunil Mishra took two wickets for Rautahat.

Earlier, opener Aschal Chaudhary top scored for Rautahat with a 39-ball 49 hitting eight boundaries and a six. Chaudhary and Aashu Kandoi (eight) shared 48 runs for the first wicket but the middle order failed to build on the foundation. No 4 batsman Dharmendra Sah was their next best scorer with 23 off 24. Sher Malla took 3-10 from four overs, while Durgesh Kurmi had two scalps for the winning side.