Karnali Yaks Beat Biratnagar by 4 Wickets in NPL Match 6

Karnali Yaks beat Biratnagar Kings by four wickets in NPL Season 3 Match 6 at TU Ground, Kirtipur, on Thursday, chasing down 187 with one ball to spare after captain Sompal Kami's unbeaten 62 rescued a chase that had slipped to 57 for 5.

Kami's unbeaten 62 turns a lost chase

Chasing 187, Karnali Yaks reached 187 for 6 in 19.5 overs, winning with one ball to spare against Biratnagar Kings at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. The chase had looked gone when Karnali slipped to 57 for 5 in the seventh over, but captain Sompal Kami walked in and refused to let the game go, finishing on 62 not out off 32 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Kami was unbeaten on 50 off 27 balls when Karnali still needed 15 off the last 10 balls, and he shared an unbroken 64-run seventh-wicket stand with Gulsan Jha, who finished on 28 not out off 21 balls. The pair came together with the score at 123 for 6 in the 14th over and took Karnali home without further loss, turning a chase that had stalled twice into a win off the penultimate ball of the match.

The finish was all the more striking because Kami had already shaped the match with the ball. His 4 for 33 in the first innings had removed Biratnagar's top order threats one by one, and his unbeaten fifty with the bat completed a captain's all-round performance that decided both halves of the game.

Karnali Yaks beat Biratnagar after early collapse

The chase began badly. Mark Watt fell for 1 in the second over, and Angelo Mathews struck three times to leave Karnali reeling: Ariful Islam made a rapid 32 off 12 balls with three fours and three sixes before falling to Mathews, Deepak Dumre hit 20 off 11, and Hussain Talat was out for a four-ball duck. When Akbar Ali fell for 1, Karnali were 57 for 5 and needed 130 runs from 79 balls, with Biratnagar firmly in control.

Pawan Sarraf rebuilt the innings with a 66-run sixth-wicket stand alongside Kami, scoring 36 off 28 balls with one four and three sixes before falling to Pratis GC at 123 for 6. Sarraf's dismissal left Karnali needing 64 from 35 balls, and it was only then that the Kami-Gulsan stand took over, scoring at better than ten an over to close the game out.

Mathews finished with 3 for 25 from his four overs and was Biratnagar's best bowler by some distance. Charith Asalanka took 1 for 32, Pratis GC 1 for 39 and Sandeep Lamichhane 1 for 35, but none of them could break the final stand once Kami and Gulsan were set.

Lokesh Bam's 87 goes in vain for Biratnagar

Biratnagar's 186 for 7 had been built on Lokesh Bam's 87 off 52 balls, an innings of three fours and nine sixes that carried his side from early trouble to a competitive total. Biratnagar had lost Imran Sheikh for 5 and Charith Asalanka for 3 inside six overs, and Shehan Jayasuriya added 11 before being run out, but Bam and Mathews steadied the innings with a 71-run stand that took the score from 73 to 144.

Mathews scored 31 off 23 balls before becoming Kami's third victim, and Andre Russell provided the late surge with 27 off 15 balls. Basir Ahamad added 13 off seven deliveries as Biratnagar reached 186, although both fell in the closing overs and the total proved too small to defend.

Kami was Karnali's most effective bowler, finishing with 4 for 33 from his four overs. Mark Watt conceded just 23 runs in four overs with one maiden and took one wicket, while Nandan Yadav also claimed a wicket. Biratnagar's bowlers, by contrast, could not defend a total that had looked ample when Karnali were five down for 57.

What the result means for the points table

The win is Karnali's second in two matches this season, after their 19-run victory over Janakpur Bolts in Match 3, and it keeps them among the early pace-setters in Season 3. Biratnagar, meanwhile, are still searching for their first win after two matches, having lost their opener to Chitwan Rhinos by eight runs before this four-wicket defeat.

The pattern of the match will concern Biratnagar more than the margin. They posted the second-highest total of the season so far and still lost, because their bowling could not defend it once Kami was set, and their own batting after Bam's dismissal managed only 42 runs from the last 25 balls. Karnali, by contrast, showed exactly the depth that wins tight chases: when the top order failed, the captain and the lower middle order finished the job.

Karnali next face Kathmandu Gorkhas on November 2, while Biratnagar get a quick chance to respond against Sudurpaschim Royals on October 31. For live scores, the NPL Season 3 live score page carries every match, and the full schedule lists the remaining fixtures. The points table will reflect Karnali's second win once it is updated after Match 6.