Karnali Yaks vs Lumbini Lions, NPL Match 23

The evening match at Kirtipur on Thursday, 12 November 2026, pairs a side that has lost three in a row with the team that holds the best net run rate in the league. Karnali Yaks face Lumbini Lions in Match 23 at 5:00 PM NST (4:45 PM PKT), the second game of the day after Biratnagar Kings meet Pokhara Avengers at 12:30 PM NST. Lumbini can go top of the table with a win and guarantee a playoff place. Karnali can climb to fourth with a win of their own. The two sides have not met each other yet this season, and the evening game is the one that will decide how the table looks when the league wakes up on Friday.

Karnali Yaks: three defeats to stop

Karnali started the season well and have spent the last week watching it slip away. They beat Janakpur Bolts by 19 runs and Biratnagar Kings by four wickets, and then lost three straight: by four wickets to Kathmandu Gorkhas, by 39 runs to Sudurpaschim Royals and by 63 runs to Pokhara Avengers. Their last match was their heaviest defeat of the season, and they have had three days since it to reset. The margins have grown with each defeat, from four wickets to 39 runs to 63 runs, and that is the trend they have to break tonight. They sit seventh with four points from five matches, two wins and three defeats, and a net run rate of minus 0.846. A fourth straight defeat would leave them on four points with one league match left, and their playoff hopes resting on other results.

Miller, Kami and the Karnali batting

Karnali's batting has not been the problem in the main. Ariful Islam has 143 runs from five matches and Pawan Sarraf has 140, so the runs are spread around the order. Captain Sompal Kami has taken nine wickets in five matches, and he leads the side with the ball as well as from the front. David Miller's unbeaten 93 off 55 balls against Sudurpaschim Royals showed what their middle order can do on its day, with five fours and seven sixes in an innings that still ended in defeat. The issue has been finishing games. In their last three matches they have been beaten by four wickets, 39 runs and 63 runs, and the margins have grown each time. Tonight they need the batting to fire and the bowling to hold its nerve at the end, because Lumbini are the side least likely in the league to let a game drift away.

Lumbini Lions: the best net run rate in the league

Lumbini Lions are third with seven points from five matches, three wins, one defeat and one no result, and their net run rate of plus 1.501 is the best in the league. They opened the season by beating Sudurpaschim Royals by seven wickets, shared the points with Chitwan Rhinos when rain washed out Match 7, then beat Pokhara Avengers by eight wickets and Janakpur Bolts by 16 runs. Their only defeat came in Match 18, when Kathmandu Gorkhas beat them by 36 runs. The champions have reached this point without any of their batters dominating the run chart, which is a different kind of strength: they have won three matches by sharing the work around, and they arrive this evening as the form side of the two. A win tonight takes them to nine points and the top of the table, above Kathmandu and Sudurpaschim on eight.

Sher Malla and the champions' control

Sher Malla has taken eight wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 5.19, and he gives Lumbini control in the middle overs. That control is what sets the champions apart: they squeeze the scoring in the middle of the innings and then finish games with the bat. Their bowling has been the most economical unit in the league, and their fielding has backed it up. Karnali's batting, for all its runs, has not been able to finish games, and the middle overs are where this match will be won or lost. If Malla and the Lumbini bowlers keep Ariful Islam and Pawan Sarraf quiet, and if Miller is kept from repeating his 93 not out, Lumbini will be hard to beat. The champions do not need one player to win them the game, and that is why they are third with a game in hand on the teams around them.

What today decides

A win for Lumbini takes them to nine points and the top of the table, above Kathmandu and Sudurpaschim on eight, and it would guarantee their place in the playoffs: only Chitwan could still reach nine points, and Lumbini's net run rate, the best in the league, would keep them ahead on any tie. A win for Karnali takes them to six points and fourth place, above Chitwan on five, with one league match left, against Chitwan on Sunday. A defeat for Karnali would leave them on four points with the same single match to play, and their playoff hopes would rest on other results. Lumbini's last league match is against Biratnagar on Saturday, so a win tonight would let them go into that game already sure of a playoff place. Karnali's last match is the Sunday meeting with Chitwan, which could yet become a straight fight for fourth place.

The points table after Match 21

Kathmandu Gorkhas lead the table with eight points from five matches, ahead of Sudurpaschim Royals on the same points but a lower net run rate. Lumbini Lions are third on seven, Chitwan Rhinos fourth on five, and then three teams, Janakpur Bolts, Biratnagar Kings and Karnali Yaks, sit together on four points, separated only by net run rate. Pokhara Avengers are eighth on two points. Kathmandu and Sudurpaschim have already secured playoff places, and the other two places will be decided by the seven league matches still to play, starting with these two. A Lumbini win tonight would make them the third team to qualify and leave one place for four teams to fight over; a Karnali win would put them fourth and make Sunday's meeting with Chitwan the game that decides it.

Where to watch

Match 23 is shown live on Himalaya Television in Nepal and streamed on the NetTV app. The first ball is at 5:00 PM NST (4:45 PM PKT) at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. The evening start is 5:00 PM, not 4:30 PM: the Cricket Association of Nepal revised the evening start from 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM on 20 October 2026, when it confirmed the Decision Review System for Season 3, and some schedules online still show the old time. The first match of the day, Biratnagar Kings against Pokhara Avengers, starts at 12:30 PM NST (11:45 AM PKT), so the double-header runs from early afternoon into the evening under lights.