Kathmandu Gorkhas Thrash Biratnagar by 9 Wickets

Kathmandu Gorkhas produced the most complete performance of their season so far, sweeping Biratnagar Kings aside by nine wickets in Match 15 of the Nepal Premier League at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Wednesday, 5 November 2026.

Biratnagar collapse under the new ball

The evening match lasted barely two and a half hours. Biratnagar were bowled out for 83 in 18.3 overs, and Kathmandu needed only 9.4 overs to chase 84, finishing with 62 balls to spare. It was the kind of win that changes a points table: Kathmandu moved up to second place on four points, while Biratnagar stayed on four points and slipped behind on net run rate.

Kathmandu won the toss and chose to bowl first, and the decision was vindicated within the powerplay. Shehan Jayasuriya fell for 5, Imran Sheikh for a three-ball duck, and Lokesh Bam for 6, and Biratnagar were 20 for 3 after 4.3 overs. The Kings had come into the match on the back of a batting record, three fifties in one innings against Janakpur Bolts, but none of that form travelled into the evening.

The collapse kept coming. Basir Ahamad made 10, Narayan Joshi and Shubham Ranjane both fell without scoring, and Andre Russell, the hero of the Janakpur win, managed only 3 from 5 balls. Biratnagar were 35 for 7 at the drinks break, and the match was already drifting away from them.

Santosh Yadav did the most damage. The Kathmandu bowler took 3 wickets for 11 runs from his three overs, removing Ranjane, Angelo Mathews and Rupesh Singh, and was named Player of the Match. Sahan Arachchige was just as tight, taking 2 for 7 from two overs, and Jahandad Khan took 2 for 19.

The rest of the attack shared the work around them. Karan KC, the Kathmandu captain, took 1 for 17 from four overs, Shahab Alam took 1 for 13, and Dev Shah took 1 for 15. Between them the six bowlers never let Biratnagar settle, and only two Kings batters reached double figures.

Angelo Mathews held one end for a while, making 22 from 31 balls, and Rupesh Singh top-scored with 26 from 27 balls, including three fours and a six. The pair put on 39 runs for the eighth wicket, the only partnership of substance in the innings, and took Biratnagar from 35 for 7 to 74 for 8. But the recovery only delayed the inevitable. Rupesh was leg before to Santosh Yadav, Aprajit Poudel fell to Jahandad Khan, and captain Sandeep Lamichhane was left unbeaten on 3 as the innings closed on 83.

Warner finishes the chase

A target of 84 should never have troubled Kathmandu, and it did not. Sahil Patel fell for 10 in the third over, bowled by Aprajit Poudel, but that was the only wicket of the chase. David Warner and William Bosisto then put on an unbroken 69 runs from 43 balls to finish the match in a hurry.

Warner, playing his second match for the Gorkhas, looked a different batter from the one who had fallen for 16 on debut against Karnali Yaks. He finished unbeaten on 44 from 24 balls, striking two fours and three sixes, and sealed the win with a six over backward square leg off Imran Sheikh in the tenth over. It was the innings Kathmandu had signed him for, and it came at exactly the right time.

Bosisto gave him calm company at the other end, finishing unbeaten on 23 from 24 balls with three fours. The pair never let the required rate climb, and the chase was done with more than ten overs unused, a margin that will do Kathmandu's net run rate plenty of good.

Biratnagar's bowlers had almost nothing to defend, and the figures tell that story plainly. Aprajit Poudel took the only wicket, removing Patel for 10, while Shehan Jayasuriya went for 19 from four wicketless overs and Sandeep Lamichhane conceded 20 from two. Andre Russell's single over cost 14, and Imran Sheikh's four balls cost 14 more, including the two sixes that finished the match. When a chase ends in the tenth over, bowling figures stop mattering much, but they still show how little pressure Kathmandu ever felt.

What the win means

The win is Kathmandu's second of the season. They had beaten Karnali Yaks by four wickets on 2 November, chasing 181 with two balls to spare, and the nine-wicket win over Biratnagar is a far more convincing statement. After 15 matches, Lumbini Lions still lead the table with seven points, but Kathmandu now sit second on four points with a net run rate of +1.133, ahead of Karnali Yaks, Janakpur Bolts, Biratnagar Kings and Sudurpaschim Royals, who all have four points.

For Biratnagar, the defeat is a sharp reminder of how quickly a season can turn. Two days earlier they had made league history with three fifties in one innings. Against Kathmandu, their batting lasted 18.3 overs and produced a total their bowlers could never defend. Sandeep Lamichhane went wicketless with the ball, conceding 20 runs from two overs, and the Kings will need their batting to rediscover its Janakpur form quickly.

The result also underlines how much of Kathmandu's season rests on their local bowling. Santosh Yadav's three wickets earned him the Player of the Match award, Sahan Arachchige's two for seven was the most economical spell of the match, and the attack as a whole conceded only six extras. When the overseas stars deliver with the bat, as Warner did here, that bowling gives Kathmandu a genuine chance against any side in the league.

Kathmandu next face Lumbini Lions on 7 November, a meeting with the table leaders that will test whether this win was a one-off or the start of a run. The league continues on Friday, 6 November, with Sudurpaschim Royals against Karnali Yaks in Match 16 at 12:30 PM NST, followed by Chitwan Rhinos against Pokhara Avengers.