Pokhara Avengers are out of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) 2026 playoffs. Their 4-wicket defeat to Biratnagar Kings in Match 22 at Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur, on Thursday, 12 November 2026, ended their campaign at the league stage. Pokhara have one league match left, against Kathmandu Gurkhas on Sunday, 15 November 2026, but even a win there cannot take them into the top four.

Pokhara are at the bottom of the points table with two points, and a win in their final match will not bring them into the top four.

The question is not how they lost on Thursday. It is why a side that posted the second-highest total in NPL history this season won only once in six matches.

The Moment It Ended

Pokhara won the toss in Match 22 and opted to bat. They were bowled out for 132 in 17.5 overs. Biratnagar Kings chased the target of 133 in 19.2 overs, finishing on 136 for 6 with four balls remaining.

Sandeep Lamichhane, the Biratnagar captain, took 6 for 27 in four overs, including a hat-trick. He was on 6 for 22 in 2.5 overs when the hat-trick was completed, with Pokhara on 122 for 8 in 14.5 overs.

Yuvraj Samra top-scored for Pokhara with 84 off 47 balls. No other Pokhara batter passed 22 in that inning.

For Biratnagar, Basir Ahamad made 37 off 39 balls, and Lokesh Bam made 33 off 27 balls. The win took Biratnagar to six points from six matches.

That result, on its own, does not explain a season. The pattern across the previous five matches does.

A Season in Numbers

Pokhara's record after Match 22 is

• Played: 6
• Won: 1
• Lost: 5
• Points: 2
• Position: 8th, bottom of the table

Before Match 22, their record was one win and four defeats, with two points and a net run rate of -0.707.

Their only win came in Match 19, on 9 November 2026, when they beat Karnali Yaks by 63 runs. Pokhara posted 217 for 3 in 20 overs, and bowled Karnali out for 154 in 18.3 overs.

That win ended a four-match losing start. It did not change the season. Pokhara lost the next match to Biratnagar and was eliminated.

The Batting Problem

Pokhara's batting was too dependent on too few players and too often collapsed at the same stage of an innings.

The verified totals tell the story. Apart from the Karnali match, Pokhara scored:

• 145 for 7 against the Sudurpaschim Royals, and lost by 6 wickets
• 138 for 9 against Janakpur Bolts, and lost by 9 runs
• 121 against Chitwan Rhinos, and lost by 30 runs
• 97 for 9 against the Lumbini Lions, and lost by 8 wickets
• 132 against the Biratnagar Kings, and lost by 4 wickets

Five innings, five totals below 150, three below 135. The Kirtipur first-innings average in NPL 2026, cited from CricketWorld NPL 2026 ground stats, is 157. Pokhara passed that figure once, in the Karnali match.

That is not a one-match problem. It is a repeated failure to build an innings. When the top order went early, there was no middle-order recovery in the verified scores. Against Chitwan, captain Kushal Bhurtel made 4 off 3 balls. Against Biratnagar, he made 0 off 4 balls. Against Lumbini, the whole side managed 97 for 9.

The Karnali total of 217 for 3 shows what this batting line-up could do when it fired. It also shows how far below that level it usually played.

The Bowling Problem

Pokhara's bowling had no bowler who could regularly change a match on his own, apart from one spell against Karnali.

Before Match 22, the verified bowling leaders for Pokhara, from CricNepal, checked on 11 November 2026, were:

• Mahedi Hasan—5 wickets in 5 matches, economy 6.90
• Bipin Khatri—5 wickets in 5 matches, economy 8.96
• Shakib Al Hasan—4 wickets in 3 matches, economy 4.50

Five wickets in five matches is a steady return, not a match-winning one. Mahedi's best verified performance was 3 for 24 against Karnali Yaks, in the side's only win.

That pattern held in the defeats. Pokhara could not defend 145 against Sudurpaschim, who reached 148 for 4. They fell 9 runs short, chasing Janakpur's 147. They could not contain Chitwan, who posted 151 for 6 before bowling Pokhara out for 121.

In short, the attack needed early wickets to stay in games. When it did not get them, there was no second plan in the verified figures.

Yuvraj Samra's Lone Bright Spot

Yuvraj Samra, the 19-year-old Canadian opener, is the one clear positive of Pokhara's season—and also a measure of how much the side relied on him.

Before Match 22, CricNepal recorded Samra on 121 runs in two matches, at a strike rate of 195.16. That included a fifty in his first outing for the franchise and a century in his second.

That century came against Karnali Yaks on 9 November 2026: 102 off 48 balls, with 10 fours and six sixes. He reached fifty in 23 balls and his hundred in 45 balls. It was the first century of NPL Season 3 and the fourth century in NPL history.

He followed it against Biratnagar with 84 off 47 balls, including seven fours and five sixes, before Lamichhane dismissed him.

Adding those two verified figures together—121 runs before Match 22, plus 84 in Match 22—gives 205 runs in three matches. That is a calculation from those sources, not a new official season total, and it is stated as such here.

Samra's form, in other words, was not the problem. The problem was that Pokhara needed him to produce fifty or a hundred almost every time to be competitive. No other batter did so consistently.

Kushal Bhurtel, the captain, was Pokhara's top scorer before Match 22, with 136 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 133.33, according to CricketWorld / CricNepal, checked 11 November 2026. His 62 off 39 balls against Karnali was his third half-century of the season, according to nplcricketleague.com.

He scored 0 off 4 balls against Biratnagar, so he remains on 136 runs, now in six matches. A captain and top scorer averaging in the low twenties across a season, with his best innings coming in the side's only win, sums up Pokhara's batting problem.

What the Kathmandu Match Still Means

Pokhara's final league match is against Kathmandu Gurkhas on Sunday, 15 November 2026, at 5:00 PM NPT at TU Ground, Kirtipur.

They cannot qualify for the playoffs. That is confirmed.

A win would still matter, for two limited reasons. First, it would take Pokhara from two points to four points and avoid finishing the league stage with a single win. Second, it could affect whether they finish last, depending on Karnali Yaks' remaining results and net run rate.

No new final position is claimed here, because that depends on results that have not yet happened. The Kathmandu match is a dead rubber for qualification, but not a meaningless game for Pokhara's final standing.

What Happens Next for Pokhara

Elimination with a match still to play is a poor return for a franchise that has now had a season defined by one outstanding individual performance and one outstanding team performance—both in the same week, and both followed by defeat.

The positives are real, and they are narrow. Samra, at 19, has shown he can score a century and follow it with 84 against a strong attack. Bhurtel has shown he can still make half-centuries. Mahedi Hasan has shown he can take 3 for 24 when the side posts a total to defend.

The failures are broader. Five defeats in six matches, five totals below 150, and a bowling attack with no bowler above five wickets before Match 22 point to a squad problem rather than a single bad day.

Pokhara will finish the league stage on 15 November 2026. The work after that is not about this season's playoffs—those are gone. It is about whether the franchise keeps the one player who carried its batting and builds a middle order and an attack that do not need him to score a hundred to win.

Check the points table after the final round of league matches, and see the full schedule for the remaining fixtures and the playoff dates.