Quick Facts
- Wicket race leader
- Rijan Dhakal (Chitwan Rhinos) — 10 wickets in four matches
- Best figures
- 4 for 24 against Pokhara Avengers, 6 November 2026 — Player of the Match
- Economy and average
- 81 runs in 12 overs — average 8.10, economy 6.75
- Nearest rivals
- Kamal Singh Airee 9 wickets (3 matches), Sompal Kami 9 wickets (5 matches)
- Rest of the top five
- Sher Malla 8 wickets (4 matches), Rahul Yadav 8 wickets (5 matches)
- Chitwan position
- Fourth, 5 points from five matches — two wins, two defeats, one no result
- Race moves next
- Match 21 tonight, 10 November, 5:00 PM NST — Rahul Yadav plays for Janakpur Bolts against Sudurpaschim Royals
Rijan Dhakal has moved to the top of the Nepal Premier League wicket race. The left-arm fast bowler from Makwanpur has taken 10 wickets in four matches for Chitwan Rhinos in Season 3, and no other bowler in the tournament has reached double figures yet. His nearest challengers sit one wicket behind him, and one of them wears the same Chitwan shirt.
The four spells behind the lead
Dhakal's lead is built on four spells, and each one changed a match. He opened his tournament against Biratnagar Kings on 27 October with two wickets for 25 runs in three overs, as Chitwan defended 157 and won their first match by eight runs. Kamal Singh Airee took four for 26 in that game, but Dhakal's strikes in the 19th over closed the door on the chase.
His quietest outing came against Sudurpaschim Royals on 2 November, when he bowled a single over that cost 18 runs and brought one wicket. Sudurpaschim chased down Chitwan's 129 for six with five wickets in hand, and Dhakal's expensive over was the one blemish on his record so far. It is also the only match in which Chitwan have lost while he has been wicketless for most of the night.
The spell that put him in front came against Pokhara Avengers on 6 November. Defending 151, Dhakal took four wickets for 24 runs in four overs and was named Player of the Match as Pokhara were bowled out for 121 and Chitwan won by 30 runs. His victims included Pokhara captain Chamika Karunaratne and the last man, Sagar Dhakal, and the four-wicket haul remains the best return by a Chitwan bowler this season.
He followed it with his most economical spell of the tournament against Kathmandu Gorkhas on 9 November: three wickets for 14 runs in four overs. He dismissed Sahil Patel for eight and Sahan Arachchige during a spell that went at three and a half runs an over, comfortably the best economy on either side that night. Kathmandu still won the match by 10 runs after posting 180 for eight, but Dhakal had kept them from running away to 200 and given Chitwan a chaseable target.
Add the four spells together and the numbers are striking: 12 overs, 81 runs, 10 wickets, an average of 8.10 and an economy rate of 6.75. He has taken a wicket in every match he has bowled in, and even his leanest return, one for 18 against Sudurpaschim, brought a wicket.
A Chitwan one-two at the top
What makes Dhakal's lead more remarkable is who sits directly behind him. Kamal Singh Airee, his Chitwan teammate, is second with nine wickets in only three matches. Airee took four for 26 against Biratnagar Kings, three wickets against Pokhara Avengers and two for 25 against Kathmandu Gorkhas, so the top two places in the tournament's wicket race are both held by Chitwan bowlers. Between them, Dhakal and Airee have taken 19 wickets.
Sompal Kami of Karnali Yaks shares third place with Airee on nine wickets, though the experienced campaigner has needed five matches to get there. Sher Malla of Lumbini Lions and Rahul Yadav of Janakpur Bolts complete the top five with eight wickets each, Malla in four matches and Yadav in five. No other bowler has more than eight, which is how far ahead of the field Dhakal's 10 wickets have put him.
The shape of the race says something about how this season is being played. The leading run-scorer, Lokesh Bam of Biratnagar Kings, has 194 runs in five matches, and the highest individual score belongs to Yuvraj Samra, whose 102 against Karnali Yaks is the only century of the season so far. Bowlers, though, are deciding matches more often than batters, and Dhakal is the clearest example of that.
What it means for Chitwan
Dhakal's form has carried Chitwan's attack while the team's results have been mixed. The Rhinos sit fourth in the table with five points from five matches: two wins, two defeats and one no result, after their game against Lumbini Lions was washed out and the points were shared. They beat Biratnagar Kings by eight runs and Pokhara Avengers by 30 runs, and they lost to Sudurpaschim Royals by five wickets and to Kathmandu Gorkhas by 10 runs.
In both wins, Dhakal was central to the result. Against Biratnagar he struck at the death to protect a small total, and against Pokhara his four-wicket haul broke the chase open. Even in defeat he has delivered: his three for 14 against Kathmandu was the best bowling performance on either side in a match his team lost by 10 runs, and his single wicket against Sudurpaschim came in an over that went for 18, the one spell he will want to forget.
That consistency matters because Chitwan's season is finely balanced. Five points from five matches leaves them in the playoff race but with no room for a long losing run, and their bowling has been the reliable part of the side. With Dhakal and Airee taking wickets at the top of the race, Chitwan can defend totals that other teams could not.
From Makwanpur to the top of the charts
Dhakal has played for Chitwan Rhinos since the first edition of the Nepal Premier League, and his rise to the top of the wicket race has been a steady one rather than a sudden breakthrough. The left-arm medium-fast bowler came through Nepal's age-group system, playing for the Under-16s and Under-19s before reaching the senior side, and he has played eight Twenty20 internationals for Nepal, taking six wickets.
He is a right-hand batter who bats low in the order — he finished one not out off one ball against Kathmandu — but his value to Chitwan is entirely with the ball. He bowls with pace from the left arm, an angle that has troubled batters all season, and his best work has come when the match has been in the balance: at the death against Biratnagar, in the middle overs against Pokhara, and up front against Kathmandu.
The Player of the Match award against Pokhara was the public recognition of that value. It was the first time this season that a Chitwan bowler has been singled out as the decisive performer in a win, and it came in the match that took Dhakal to the top of the race.
The race is still open
Dhakal's lead is one wicket, and it will be tested again tonight. Match 21, between Sudurpaschim Royals and Janakpur Bolts, starts at 5:00 PM NST at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, and Janakpur's Rahul Yadav goes into it with eight wickets. A three-wicket haul would take Yadav past Dhakal, and even two wickets would draw him level, so the top of the chart could look different by the end of the night.
Sompal Kami and Sher Malla are also within two wickets of the lead, and Airee, with nine wickets in three matches, has the best strike rate of anyone near the top. Dhakal's advantage is that he has taken his wickets in every match he has played, and his economy rate of 6.75 is the best among the five leaders. If he keeps that control when Chitwan return to action, the race will stay his to lose.
FAQs
Who leads the NPL Season 3 wicket race?
Rijan Dhakal of Chitwan Rhinos leads the race with 10 wickets in four matches. He is the only bowler in the tournament to have reached double figures so far in Season 3.
What are Rijan Dhakal's best bowling figures in NPL 2026?
His best figures are 4 for 24 in four overs against Pokhara Avengers on 6 November 2026, when Chitwan defended 151 and won by 30 runs. Dhakal was named Player of the Match for that spell.
Who are the other bowlers in the top five of the NPL wicket race?
Kamal Singh Airee of Chitwan Rhinos is second with nine wickets in three matches, and Sompal Kami of Karnali Yaks is third with nine wickets in five matches. Sher Malla of Lumbini Lions and Rahul Yadav of Janakpur Bolts share fourth place with eight wickets each.
When can the NPL wicket race change next?
The race moves again tonight, 10 November, when Janakpur Bolts meet Sudurpaschim Royals in Match 21 at 5:00 PM NST in Kirtipur. Janakpur's Rahul Yadav has eight wickets, so a big night with the ball could take him past Dhakal at the top.
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