Karnali Yaks beat Biratnagar Kings by four wickets at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur, on October 29, chasing 187 with one ball to spare in the third edition of the Nepal Premier League. Captain Sompal Kami won it with both ball and bat: four wickets for 33, then an unbeaten 62 off 32 deliveries after Karnali slipped to 57 for 5.

Match Summary

Biratnagar Kings Innings: Bam’s Sixes Build 186

Lokesh Bam carried Biratnagar’s innings. He hit 87 off 52 balls, with three fours and nine sixes, and added 67 for the fourth wicket with Angelo Mathews, who made 31 off 22.

Bam fell to Kami on the fifth ball of the 16th over. That left him 13 runs short of what would have been the first century by a Nepali batter in NPL history.

Andre Russell added a quick 27 off 15 balls, but the rest of the order did little. Shehan Jayasuriya made 11 and Basir Ahmed 13. Imran Sheikh (5) and Charith Asalanka (3) fell cheaply, and Sujan Thapaliya finished not out. The innings closed on 186 for 7 when Nandan Yadav bowled Basir off the final ball.

Kami’s four-wicket haul: Bam, Russell, Mathews, and Asalanka, in 4 overs for 33 runs. Mark Watt removed Imran Sheikh, and Yadav took the last wicket.

Karnali Yaks Chase: From 57/5 to a Four-Wicket Win

Karnali’s chase began badly. Mark Watt (1), Dipak Dumre (20), Akbar Ali (1), Ariful Islam (32), and Hussain Talat (0) all went early, and the Yaks were 57 for 5.

Kami and Pawan Sarraf then added 66 for the sixth wicket. Sarraf made 36 off 28 before falling. Kami and Gulshan Jha then added an unbroken 64 for the seventh wicket.

Those two stands produced 130 of Karnali’s 187 runs, about 70 percent of the total.

Angelo Mathews took three wickets for Biratnagar. Charith Asalanka, Pratis GC, and captain Sandeep Lamichhane took one each.

The Final Over: Eight Needed, One Ball Spare

Karnali needed 8 from the last over. The sequence went:

• Ball 1: Kami took a single.
• Ball 2: Jha ran two.
• Ball 3: Jha took a single.
• Biratnagar’s Lokesh Bam then dropped a catch offered by Jha.
• Balls 4 and 5: Kami ran two off each to finish the chase.

Biratnagar paid for that one missed chance, and Karnali won with a ball in hand.

Key Stat: Kami Dismissed 78% of Biratnagar’s Runs

Bam, Mathews and Russell scored 145 of Biratnagar’s 186 runs, about 78 percent. Kami dismissed all three. Bam’s 87 also came mostly in boundaries: 66 of his runs, 76 percent, came from his three fours and nine sixes.

What’s Next

Friday, October 30, is a rest day in the NPL 2026 schedule. The league returns on Saturday, October 31, with two matches at the Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground, Kirtipur:

• Lumbini Lions vs Chitwan Rhinos, 7th match, starting at 12:30PM NPT
• Sudurpaschim Royals vs Biratnagar Kings, 8th match, starting at 17:00 NPT