Nepali Players Win All Six Opening NPL POTM Awards

All six Player of the Match awards in the first six games of Nepal Premier League Season 3 have gone to Nepali players, a clean sweep that reverses the pattern of earlier seasons.

The Six Award Winners

Every Player of the Match award in NPL Season 3 so far has gone to a Nepali player. Lumbini Lions spinner Sher Malla started the run in the opener against Sudurpaschim Royals, and Karnali Yaks captain Sompal Kami completed it in Match 6 against Biratnagar Kings. In between came Chitwan Rhinos pacer Kamal Singh Airee, Karnali spinner Yunish Thakuri, Sudurpaschim captain Dipendra Singh Airee and Janakpur Bolts pacer Rahul Yadav.

The six winners cover five franchises and both disciplines: four bowlers and two captains who finished games with the bat. Pokhara Avengers and Kathmandu Gorkhas are the only sides yet to supply a winner, and both have played fewer games than the early pacesetters. The sweep is all the more striking because this is the most star-studded NPL yet, with overseas names such as Andre Russell, Angelo Mathews, Moeen Ali and Jimmy Neesham in the squads the Nepali winners beat.

Bowlers Lead the Nepali Charge

The bowlers struck first. In the season opener, Sher Malla took 3 for 11 in four overs as Lumbini bowled Sudurpaschim out for 87 and won by seven wickets. His victims included Sherfane Rutherford and Scott Kuggeleijn, two of the Royals' biggest overseas names, and he was named Player of the Match even though Kishore Mahato took four wickets in the same game.

Kamal Singh Airee then took 4 for 26 in four overs as Chitwan beat Biratnagar by eight runs, dismissing Russell, Mathews, Rupesh Singh and Basir Ahmad. The next day, Yunish Thakuri took 3 for 22 in four overs as Karnali beat Janakpur, the first season's champions, by 19 runs, removing Neesham, Janakpur captain Harmeet Singh and Aditya Mahata. Three games, three Nepali bowlers, three match-winning spells, all against batting line-ups packed with international experience.

Captains Finish the Job

The fourth and sixth awards went to captains who took responsibility with the bat. Dipendra Singh Airee, the Nepal national captain, steadied Sudurpaschim's chase of 146 against Pokhara, finishing unbeaten on 51 from 36 balls with four fours and two sixes, and shared a 72-run fourth-wicket stand that laid the foundation for the win. It was the season's first Nepali half-century.

Sompal Kami's performance in Match 6 was the biggest of the six. He took four wickets as Biratnagar were held to a chaseable total, dismissing Lokesh Bam, who had scored 87, along with Russell, Mathews and Charith Asalanka. Then, with Karnali reeling at 57 for 5 in the 6.5th over chasing 187, he walked in at number seven and smashed an unbeaten 62 from 32 balls, with four fours and three sixes, building a 66-run sixth-wicket stand and an unbeaten 64-run seventh-wicket stand to win the game by four wickets. It was his first half-century in the NPL, and it gave Karnali their second straight win.

Rahul Yadav, the Talent-Hunt Breakthrough

The fifth award produced the story of the week. Rahul Yadav, a Janakpur Bolts find from the franchise's talent hunt, took 4 for 31 in four overs against Kathmandu Gorkhas, dismissing openers Smit Patel and Sam Heazlett, captain Karan KC and Md Adil Alam, and adding a fine catch to dismiss Jahandad Khan, as Kathmandu were bowled out for 115. Janakpur won by eight wickets, and Rahul, who had taken a wicket with the first ball of his debut two games earlier, had six wickets in two games and sat at the top of the wicket-takers' list.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Rahul said: "I was nervous when I was called in the playing XI in the first match but when I took a wicket in the first ball, I started getting confident." He added: "I will give my 110 percent in the next match." Janakpur captain Harmeet Singh had already called him "the next big thing of Nepali cricket" after his debut, and England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who finished unbeaten on 58 in the win over Kathmandu, went further: "He is really, really good. If he stays fit and humble, it will be very good for Nepal." Kathmandu mentor Sharad Vesawkar was equally direct: "Credit is due to Yadav for picking early wickets and putting us under pressure."

What the Sweep Means for Nepali Cricket

The contrast with last season frames why this matters. In Season 2, only one Nepali player won Player of the Match in the first eight games; foreign players dominated the early awards. This time the pattern has flipped completely, and it has flipped in games decided by Nepali players against overseas stars, not in games the stars sat out. It says the home players are no longer supporting acts in their own league.

There are two deeper implications. The first is depth. Six different winners from five teams means this is not one player carrying a trend; it is a spread of match-winners across the league, from an established national captain to a spinner winning the opener and a talent-hunt teenager winning Match 5. Rahul's path matters here in particular: he was one of 446 aspiring players from Madhesh who took part in Janakpur's talent hunt, and within two games he was deciding matches at the TU Ground. Rahul is now the proof point franchises will point to.

The second implication is belief, and it cuts both ways. For Nepali players, winning awards in front of home crowds against Russell, Mathews and Moeen Ali changes how they walk into the next game. For franchises, it changes selection thinking: an overseas star is still a draw and often a difference-maker, but the first six games suggest a team does not need to wait for its imports to win it a match. The honest caveat is sample size. Six games is a start, not a season, and the overseas players will have their weeks as the tournament goes on. What cannot be taken away is that the opening chapter of Season 3 belongs to the home players.

What Comes Next

There is no match on Friday, 30 October, the tournament's scheduled rest day, which gives the six winners a pause before the race resumes. Saturday brings a double-header: Lumbini Lions meet Chitwan Rhinos in Match 7, and Sudurpaschim Royals face Biratnagar Kings in Match 8. Both games are chances for the streak to grow or end. A seventh straight Nepali award would turn a fine opening week into a genuine talking point of the season; a first overseas winner would only underline how unusual the opening six have been. Either way, the standard for the home players is now set, and the next set of award winners will be judged against it.