Western Region crushed Mid-western Region by nine wickets to enter the semi-finals of the Prime Minister Cup One-Day National cricket tournament on Thursday. 

Bipin Khatri wreaked havoc in the top order as Western bundled out Midwest for a paltry 62 in 23 overs. Western reached the target in just 11.1 overs. It was the second lowest total in the tournament behind Far-western’s 50 all out against Tribhuvan Army Club in a Group ‘B’ game. 

Western finished their Group ‘A’ fixtures with four points from three games, while Midwest and Central Region are still in the hunt for the last four place but the two teams rely on other matches. Midwest and Central have one point each from two games and are left to take on pre-tournament favourites Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club in the last game. APF have two points after their victory over Western and a victory over Midwest on Friday will see them advance. A Midwest victory on Friday would open chances for all three teams.

With very little to do in the chase, Western sent hard-hitting Saurav Khanal to open the innings and the allrounder played an eight-ball cameo of 20 with two fours and two sixes. Khanal was dismissed for the first time in the tournament having previously played unbeaten innings of 90 (against APF) and 78 (against Central) in last two matches. Another opener Anil Gurung and Nurdhoj Sen sealed the victory with a 39-run unbroken stand for the second wicket. Gurung made 23 from 39 and Sen scored 19 off 20. Amar Singh Routela took the only Western wicket to fall. 

Earlier, right-arm medium pacer Khatri put Western on the front foot taking four of the first five Midwest wickets to fall. Midwest lost six of their batsmen for ducks. Man-of-the-match Khatri returned the figures of 4-9 from seven overs. Spinner Lal Bahadur Adhikari did the damage in the middle and lower order, picking up 4-24, while Krishna Karki took 2-21. 

Opening batsman and skipper Shubhendu Pandey, Rajbir Singh and Routela were the only three batsmen to scored in double digits making 13 runs. 

When Midwest were packed up, No 4 batsman Singh was left stranded on 13 from 41 balls with two boundaries. TAC and Nepal Police Club have already entered the semi-finals from Group ‘A’.

Central dissatisfied by ‘call-off’ decision

Central Region have expressed their dissatisfaction against the tournament officials for not allowing them to play their PM Cup cricket tournament match against Mid-western Region on Tuesday. The match was washed out due to rain after umpires deemed the ground unplayable. In a chase of 124 runs, Central Region were 23-1 from 4.2 overs before rain intervened. 

After the rain stopped at 3:40pm, the umpires went for a ground inspection before deciding not to go ahead with the match. “The tournament regulations clearly states that cut off time was supposed to be 5:30pm. The groundsman told us that the covers will be taken off in 20 minutes. Under that condition, we could have completed the required minimum 16 overs in the remaining time,” said Central manager Krishna Kanhaiya Kayastha. 

“But when our skipper (Sharad Vesawkar) went to call on the umpires, they had already changed their uniforms. The umpires took a one-sided decision without consulting us,” said Kayastha. Sanjay Gurung and Mangilal Sharma had officiated in the match, while Satyajit Sarkar was the match referee. Tournament technical director and national team coach Jagat Tamatta, however, said there was no truth on Central claims.