DHANGADHI, Jan 28: Two centuries in a T20 cricket match is rare but this exactlyl happened in the first semifinal match of Hotel Devotee SPA Cup Inter-college Cricket Tournament between host Sudur Paschimanchal Academy (SPA) and Pentagon International.
Subendu Pandey scored a century to guide SPA to 182/4 in the allotted 20 overs but former national team player Mehboob Alam clobbered 102 runs to guide Pentagon to a six-wicket victory in 15.4 overs.
Alam faced 40 balls and struck seven fours and 10 sixes. Alam reached his century off just 38 balls and was adjudged man-of-the-match. Aalam received Rs 5,000 from the organizers while former volleyball player Jagadish Bhatta handed over Rs 2,000 from his personal account to applaud the entertaining performance.
Aalam and Hasim Ansari, who opened the Pentagon innings, put up 119-run partnership within seven overs. Hasim scored 31 runs off 21 balls including three boundaries and two sixes. Binod Lama gave away 37 runs in a single over as he gave away few extras and Alam clobbered four sixes and a boundary.
Naresh Budhaair added eight runs while Pushpa Thapa scored 12 runs. Mahesh Chhetri (two runs) and Santosh Bhatta (four runs) remained unbeaten. Bhuwan Karki, Bikash Bam, Prakash Khadka and Nischal Thapa claimed a wicket each.
Earlier, Subendu Pandey blasted 110 runs off 61 balls to guide SPA to 182/4. Pandey, who completed half-century facing 31 balls, played another 23 balls to reach the three-digit score. He struck seven boundaries and 10 sixes.
Pandey put up a 117-run first wicket partnership with Jeevan Sunar. It was the first centurion partnership in the history of the tournament. Sunar scored 25 runs off 35 balls. Pankaj Kunwar added 21d runs off 13 balls including two boundaries and a six. Hasim Ansari dismissed two SPA batsmen while Santosh Bhatta and Naresh Budhaair took a wicket each.
Pentagon will take on defending champion NASA International in the final on Tuesday.
Defending champion NASA edged past Mahendra Namuna Higher Secondary, Dadeldhura by 38 runs on Monday evening.
NASA put up 182/9 in allotted 20 overs as man-of-the-match Rahul Singh scored 76 runs. Mahendra Namuna could manage only 144/8 in 20 overs.
NASA lost captain Subash Pradhan (four runs) in the first over and Abhay Paudel (duck) in the next over but Singh anchored the innings. Singh faced 48 balls and struck seven boundaries and four sixes. He put up a 67-run partnership for the third wicket with Mukesh Singh (26 runs off 27 balls). No 9 Bibek Jha chipped in with 30 runs off 13 balls. Jha struck three sixes and a boundary. Rajbindra Singh, Niraj Rawal and Surendra Chand claimed two wickets each while Bikram Sob claimed a wicket.
Dilip Nath blasted 46 runs off 41 balls for Mahendra Namuna but that was not enough to avoid defeat. Surendra Chand (29 runs), Bikram Sob (21 runs) and Dipendra Chand (14 runs) were the other contributors. Suresh Guragain dismissed three NASA batsmen while Lal Bahadur Adhikari claimed two wickets.
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