Biratnagar's 105/2 Sets Five-Over T20 Record

Biratnagar Kings did more than win their first match of NPL Season 3 on Saturday night. Their 105 for 2 in five overs against Sudurpaschim Royals at Kirtipur is the highest total ever made in a completed five-over T20 innings, passing a mark that had stood since 2020.

Record Total at TU Ground

Biratnagar Kings made history in the shortest game the rules allow. Sent in to bat by Sudurpaschim Royals in Match 8 at the TU Ground in Kirtipur on Saturday night, Biratnagar scored 105 for 2 in five overs and beat the Royals by 35 runs. The total, at 21 runs an over, is the highest ever in a completed five-over T20 innings, passing a mark that had stood for six years.

The innings began with a statement and never slowed down. Shehan Jayasuriya struck five sixes in a 35-run first over and finished as the game's top scorer with 39 off 11 balls, including two fours and five sixes. Lokesh Bam added 25 off 10, and Andre Russell finished unbeaten on 29 off 10, with two fours and three sixes, as Biratnagar reached three figures with a ball to spare. Abhinash Bohara took both wickets to fall, returning 2 for 28.

The scale of the hitting sets this innings apart: 11 sixes and five fours supplied 86 of the 105 runs, about 82 per cent of the total. In a five-over game there is no time to play yourself in and no over to waste, so every dot ball is a small defeat and every boundary changes the arithmetic. Biratnagar lost only two wickets in 30 balls, which meant the hitters kept coming and the Royals never had a quiet over to regroup.

The Previous Five-Over Mark

The record Biratnagar passed belonged to Colombo Kings, who scored 96 for 1 against Galle Gladiators in a rain-shortened match in the 2020 Lanka Premier League. That innings was reported at the time as the highest team score in a five-over-innings match, beating the previous mark of 80 for 2 by Titans against Warriors in 2016. Colombo's run rate was 19.20; Biratnagar's was 21.00.

The comparison only covers completed innings in matches reduced to five overs a side. Five-over games are rare, and most of them never reach a conclusion at all, because the same rain that shortens a match often ends it. A team has to survive the weather, the wet outfield and the umpires' inspections before it can even think about a record, and then it has to score at more than 19 runs an over for 30 balls without losing its shape. That is why Colombo's 96 stood for six years, and why Biratnagar's 105 is unlikely to be a soft record that falls again quickly.

There is a neat symmetry here: Russell played in the Colombo side whose 96 set the old mark, and he finished unbeaten in the Biratnagar innings that passed it, before taking 1 for 8 in two overs as the chase stalled.

Five Overs, One First Win

The record arrived on a night when there nearly was no match at all. Rain had already washed out the day's first match, between Lumbini Lions and Chitwan Rhinos, and left the outfield waterlogged, and Sudurpaschim players left the field over the safety of the surface before play could begin. Cricket Association of Nepal secretary Paras Khadka had warned earlier on Saturday that the chances of play were slim, saying: “the chances of the matches taking place are low.” Only after extended talks did the sides agree to a five-over contest, and play finally began at about 9:20 PM, more than four hours late.

Biratnagar had waited all evening, watched one match abandoned and their own fixture disputed, and then produced the most destructive five overs the format has seen. The chase never recovered: Sherfane Rutherford fell to Russell off the first ball, captain Dipendra Singh Airee made only 1, and Sudurpaschim finished on 70 for 3, with Scott Kuggeleijn unbeaten on 28 off six balls. A target of 106 from 30 balls demands 21.2 runs an over, and the Royals were behind that rate almost immediately.

Biratnagar's message to supporters before the match captured the mood of the evening. In a Facebook message quoted in match coverage, the franchise told fans: “Win or lose, your support will never go unnoticed.” Thousands of spectators had stayed from the afternoon into the late evening, and they were rewarded with a record rather than a washout.

What the Record Means for Biratnagar

For Biratnagar, the record matters because of where their season stood. They arrived at Kirtipur without a point after two defeats, including a one-run loss to Karnali Yaks, and captain Sandeep Lamichhane had faced questions about fielding and composure. A 35-run win in a five-over game breaks that story convincingly: not by scraping home, but by dominating from the first over.

The points table after Match 8 leaves both these sides on two points from three matches, with Biratnagar fourth and Sudurpaschim sixth on net run rate. In a league where only four teams reach the playoffs, a 35-run win in a five-over game is also a heavy net run rate swing, and it arrives for a side that had been losing close games. In a league where only four teams reach the playoffs, a 35-run win in a five-over game is also a heavy net run rate swing. The Kings now have a template they did not have before: power at the top, power at the death, and a bowler in Russell who can hold a five-over chase together.

Five-over cricket is often dismissed as a lottery, but Biratnagar's 105 argues the opposite: the side that attacked from ball one was the side that made history. The rest of the schedule will bring more rain-affected evenings at Kirtipur, and every team that walks out for a five-over innings will now know the number to beat: 105.