Sompal Kami Out Obstructing the Field in NPL 2026

Karnali Yaks captain Sompal Kami was given out in one of cricket's rarest ways on 9 November 2026, dismissed obstructing the field during his side's chase against Pokhara Avengers in Nepal Premier League Match 19 at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. The dismissal came on the final ball of the 15th over, ended Kami's innings on 21 from 19 balls, and effectively ended Karnali's hopes of chasing 218, as Pokhara ran out 63-run winners for their first victory of the season.

The dismissal, ball by ball

Pokhara had posted 217 for 3 in their 20 overs, built on Yuvraj Samra's 102 from 48 balls and Kushal Bhurtel's 62 from 39. Karnali's chase was already wobbling when Kami walked in. Pawan Sarraf had fought hardest with 32 from 31 balls, and the pair had added 58 runs together, but the asking rate was climbing and wickets were falling at the other end.

Bipin Khatri was bowling the 15th over. His final delivery was a wide half-tracker outside the off stump, the kind of ball a batter expects to punish. Kami went hard at the cut and managed only an under-edge. The ball bounced harmlessly near his feet, inside the crease, and sat there. In visible frustration at missing a scoring chance, Kami swung his bat downward and swatted the stationary ball away toward the off side.

Pokhara appealed at once. The wicketkeeper and the bowler went up together, and the on-field umpires sent the decision upstairs. TV umpire Masudur Rahman took his time, then raised the finger. Kami removed his helmet, rubbed his head in disbelief, and walked back as the big screen flashed out. Karnali were 130 for 7, still needing 88 runs from the last 30 balls, and their frontline batters were back in the dressing room.

What followed was swift. Without their captain, Karnali lost their last three wickets for 24 runs and were bowled out for 154 with nine balls unused. Mahedi Hasan took three wickets to seal the win, and Khatri finished with two for 39. Pokhara's first win of the season, after four straight defeats, was confirmed by 63 runs.

The moment has travelled far beyond Kirtipur. Clips of the dismissal spread across social media within hours, and the debate around it is still running: was it a deliberate act of obstruction, or a batter trying to keep the ball away from his own stumps? The third umpire's answer was clear, and the scorecard records the dismissal as obstructing the field. For Kami, a captain who had carried Karnali with bat and ball all season, it was a harsh way for a promising chase to fall apart.

What the law says

The dismissal sits under Law 37 of the Laws of Cricket, obstructing the field. Law 37.1.1 says a batter is out obstructing the field if, while the ball is in play, that batter wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action. Hitting the ball a second time, after it has been played, falls under that law when the umpire judges the act to be deliberate.

There are exceptions, and they are the heart of the debate around Kami's dismissal. Law 37.2 says a batter shall not be out obstructing the field if the obstruction is accidental, or if it is done to avoid injury, or if the striker makes a second strike solely in order to guard the wicket lawfully. Law 34.3 allows exactly that: the striker may, solely in order to guard their wicket and before the ball has been touched by a fielder, lawfully strike the ball a second or subsequent time with the bat.

Look closely at the footage and the question is a fair one. The ball had bounced at Kami's feet, close to the stumps, and a second strike to keep it away from the woodwork would have been lawful. The TV umpire, however, read the swat as a deliberate act of frustration rather than an attempt to guard the wicket, and gave the decision against the batter. Intent is the dividing line in this law, and only the umpire's reading of it counts.

The two laws are often confused, and the confusion showed in some of the first reports of the incident. Hitting the ball twice is Law 34, and it applies when a batter strikes the ball a second time. But when that second strike is judged wilful obstruction, the dismissal is recorded as obstructing the field under Law 37. That is how it appears on the scorecard for Match 19, and that is the dismissal Kami will carry in the record books.

How rare is this?

Obstructing the field is among the rarest dismissals in the sport. Run outs, bowleds and catches make up almost every dismissal in a T20 match, and a batter is given out this way only a handful of times in professional cricket each decade. In a league season of 32 matches, it is the kind of moment that can define a tournament's memory long after the points table is forgotten.

The closest recent parallel came in a T20 international in the Continental Cup in 2023, when Malta's Fanyan Mughal was given out for hitting the ball twice against Romania. That remains the only previous case of its kind in a T20 international. Kami's dismissal now sits alongside it as one of the few such dismissals ever seen in top-level T20 cricket, and the first of its kind in the Nepal Premier League.

Rare dismissals carry a particular sting for the player involved. A batter dismissed this way is not beaten by a better ball or a sharper piece of fielding. They are, in the eyes of the law, the author of their own dismissal, and the footage leaves no hiding place. Kami's reaction told that story plainly enough: the helmet coming off, the hand to the head, the slow walk back while the crowd worked out what it had just seen.

The match around it

The dismissal should not hide how well Pokhara played. Samra's century was the innings of the match, a 48-ball 102 that included a hundred reached in 45 balls, and Bhurtel's 62 gave it the support it needed. Pokhara's 217 for 3 was the highest total of their season, and it came after four straight defeats had left them bottom of the table and searching for a win.

Kami had done his part with the ball before the dismissal. He was Karnali's most effective bowler, taking two for 24 from his four overs, including the wickets of Mahedi Hasan and Bhurtel. It was the second time in the season he had led from the front in a big match. Against Biratnagar Kings earlier in the tournament, he had taken four for 33 and then smashed an unbeaten 62 from 32 balls to chase down 187 with a ball to spare.

That all-round performance had made Kami the story of Karnali's season. He had bowled David Warner on the Australian's NPL debut, and he had dragged his side over the line in the tournament's most dramatic finish. Match 19 was supposed to be another step in that story. Instead, it ended with the rarest dismissal in the book, and a 63-run defeat that left Karnali with one win from four matches.

What it means for Karnali

The defeat leaves Karnali's playoff hopes hanging by a thread. One win from four matches is a poor return for a side with a captain in this kind of form, and the manner of this loss will hurt more than most. Karnali had already lost to Kathmandu Gorkhas and to Sudurpaschim Royals, and this defeat to a side that had not won all season is the kind of result that can end a campaign early.

For Kami, the dismissal will follow him for the rest of the tournament. Every innings he plays from here will be watched with this moment in mind, and every interview will bring the question back. That is the price of a rare dismissal: it becomes the first line of a player's story in a tournament, no matter what else they do.

For the league, though, the moment is a gift. The Nepal Premier League is still a young tournament, building its audience match by match, and moments like this are what carry a league beyond its own borders. The clips have already been watched far outside Nepal, and the debate about the law has brought new eyes to a tournament that thrives on exactly this kind of drama.

Kami will have his chance to answer with the bat. Karnali still have matches to play, and their captain remains their best player in both departments. But the first thing anyone will remember about his season is the evening in Kirtipur when he hit the ball twice, and the third umpire said no. That is the cruelty of the rarest dismissal in cricket: it takes one second, and it lasts all season.