Rohit Paudel, Jahandad Khan React After NPL Match 18

Lumbini Lions captain Rohit Paudel did not hide from the reason his side lost their unbeaten record, and Kathmandu Gorkhas fast bowler Jahandad Khan made clear what the winners want next. Speaking after Kathmandu's 36-run win in Match 18 at Kirtipur on Saturday, Paudel blamed a powerplay collapse for a defeat he still believes his team can recover from, while Khan said the Gorkhas are not chasing a playoff place. They are chasing the trophy.

Paudel: We lost it in the powerplay

Paudel was direct about where the match was lost. Chasing 161, Lumbini fell to 28 for 6 inside the powerplay, and the captain said the chase never recovered from that start. The pitch, he said, was good for batting, and the target was well within reach. What failed was the batting itself, and he refused to pin that failure on any one player.

"The pitch was very good for batting. We could easily have chased 160. But our batting fell apart in the powerplay. No single player is to blame for that. The whole team's batting was not good enough," Paudel said at the post-match press conference.

The numbers support his reading. Jahandad Khan removed D'Arcy Short, Aasif Sheikh, Niroshan Dickwella and Dilip Nath in a devastating opening spell, and Karan KC dismissed Paudel himself for a duck. By the time the powerplay ended, Lumbini had lost six wickets, and the chase was already resting on the lower order. Paudel also admitted that Lumbini's bowling had not been good enough in the first ten overs either, and he praised David Warner for showing his experience with a match-defining 66 off 50 balls at the top of Kathmandu's innings.

Paudel was equally open about the changes his side had been forced into. An injury to Kishore Mahato meant Lumbini had to make two changes to the team, and the captain said that disturbed the side's balance. He also explained a bowling call that drew questions after the match: Ben Cutting, rather than Ruben Trumpelmann, bowled the 18th over because two left-handed batters were at the crease and the slower ball looked the better option. It did not work out as planned, Paudel said, but the thinking behind it was clear.

For all that, the captain was not downbeat. He pointed to two positives from a heavy defeat: Sundeep Jora's mature resistance and Abhishek Gautam's bowling. Jora stood alone while wickets fell around him, and Paudel said his innings had taken Lumbini from a position where 60 or 70 looked likely to a total of 124. That matters, the captain said, because those extra runs can help Lumbini's net run rate later in the tournament. He also explained why Jora had been moved in the batting order, saying the decision was made for the needs of the team and the state of the game, with the left-right combination in mind.

The defeat was Lumbini's first in ten matches, a run stretching back to last season, when they won six matches in a row to lift the title. Paudel said losing is a normal part of the game, and his message was about what comes next. Lumbini have two league matches left, and the captain said winning both would keep the side in the race for the playoffs and for a top-two finish. It was not the language of a captain writing off the season. It was the language of one who believes the table still favours his team.

Khan: The title is the goal

If Paudel's message was about recovery, Jahandad Khan's was about ambition. The Pakistan fast bowler was the destroyer of Lumbini's chase, taking four wickets for 23 runs, and he spoke like a man who expects his team to go all the way. The target, he said, is not a playoff place. It is the trophy.

"Our goal is not just to win a few matches. First reach the playoffs, then take the top spot, and finally lift the NPL trophy, that is what we want," Khan said. He was clear that the team would not be satisfied with only reaching the playoffs, and that the focus now is on finishing top of the table and then winning the tournament.

Khan also explained why 160 proved to be more than enough on the night. The total looked modest when Kathmandu lost seven wickets for 52 runs after their 104-run opening stand, but Khan said the conditions at Kirtipur made it a strong score. "160 is a good total on this ground. Our plan was simple too. We got good help from the conditions while bowling. We bowled to our plan and managed to win," he said.

The swing was the key, and Khan said it came from the night air at Kirtipur. In earlier matches, he said, he had not found the swing he expected, but on Saturday the ball moved in the air and the bowlers could carry out their plan. His confidence, he added, had been lifted by his batting earlier in the week, when his unbeaten 22 off 10 balls sealed Kathmandu's chase of 181 against Karnali Yaks. "When you play a good innings with the bat, it boosts your confidence," he said.

Khan also spoke warmly about playing in Nepal. He said he had enjoyed the experience, and that the support of the Nepali crowd and the atmosphere at the ground had impressed him. He was happy, too, to be bowling in partnership with captain Karan KC, whom he praised as a good fast bowler. The two shared the new-ball work that broke Lumbini's chase, with Karan taking two wickets for 24 runs in support of Khan's four.

One question put to Khan was about the process of securing his no-objection certificate from the Pakistan Cricket Board, and the faith Kathmandu had shown in him through it. His answer was short and firm. "There is no pressure on me. The team has fully backed me. I have only been told to play my natural game and perform well," he said. For a player whose four wickets had just decided a match against the defending champions, it sounded less like a defence and more like a statement of intent.

What the result changed

The win moved Kathmandu up to second in the points table with six points from four matches, and it ended Lumbini's unbeaten start to the season. Lumbini still lead the table with seven points from five matches, three wins and one no-result before this defeat, but the gap is now a single point, and the chasing pack has reason to believe. Kathmandu's win was their third in a row, after an opening defeat to Janakpur Bolts, and the side that looked uncertain in the first week of the season now looks like a genuine contender.

The match itself turned on two passages of play. Warner and Sahil Patel put on 104 for the first wicket and gave Kathmandu a platform, even though the middle order then collapsed and the side finished on 160 for 8. Then Khan's opening spell tore the top off Lumbini's chase before it had begun. Warner was named Player of the Match for his 66, but it was Khan's four wickets that decided the contest, and the two performances together explain why the post-match talk was about the trophy rather than about one win.

The defeat also asked questions of Lumbini that had not been asked all season. Their top order had not been tested like this before, and their middle order had not been asked to rescue an innings from 28 for 6. Paudel's answers at the press conference suggested the camp knows exactly where the damage was done, and his insistence that the remaining two matches can still deliver a top-two finish will be tested soon enough.

What comes next

There is no NPL match on Sunday, 8 November, and both teams will use the break before a busy Monday. The tournament resumes with Match 19, when Pokhara Avengers take on Karnali Yaks at 12:30 PM NST, and Kathmandu are back in action the same evening, facing Chitwan Rhinos in Match 20 at 4:30 PM NST. A fourth straight win there would take the Gorkhas to eight points and keep the pressure on the teams above them.

Lumbini return on Thursday, 12 November, against Karnali Yaks in Match 23, before finishing their league campaign against Biratnagar Kings on Saturday, 14 November. Paudel's arithmetic is simple: win both, and the playoffs and a top-two finish stay in their own hands. Lose one, and the side that spent the season unbeaten will be relying on other results. Khan's arithmetic is simpler still. Win the title, and none of the rest matters.