Covers Off at Kirtipur as Match 8 Hopes Rise

Ground staff at the TU Ground in Kirtipur removed the covers from the pitch on Saturday evening, raising hopes the day's second match, Sudurpaschim Royals vs Biratnagar Kings, can still be played after the afternoon washout.

Covers Off at Kirtipur

The evening match is still alive. After the afternoon fixture was abandoned without a toss, ground staff at the Tribhuvan University ground in Kirtipur removed the covers from the pitch on Saturday evening, raising hopes that Sudurpaschim Royals against Biratnagar Kings can still be played, possibly with a reduced number of overs. By Saturday evening, the second match was reported likely to go ahead, a sharp change from earlier in the day.

Match 8, due at 5 PM, was delayed as ground staff worked on a surface that had spent most of the day under cover. Continuous rain since late Thursday night, more than 30 hours of it by Saturday, had left water pooled on the field despite the covers. The covers could not come off while rain was falling, so removing them signalled preparation could begin.

The contrast with the afternoon could hardly be starker. Lumbini Lions and Chitwan Rhinos never reached the toss for Match 7, due at 12:30 PM, because the outfield was waterlogged. Each side took one point, moving Lumbini to second place with three points and Chitwan to third with the same tally. The evening teams knew the clock, not just the rain, would decide their fate.

From Washout Fears to a Delayed Start

Almost nobody expected an evening game on Saturday morning. Cricket Association of Nepal secretary Paras Khadka had said the chances of play were slim: “It is a technical matter, and it is not yet certain exactly what will happen. But the chances of the matches taking place are low.” The covers could not be removed while rain was falling, and without that first step there was no way to prepare a pitch.

The forecasts pointed the same way. Meteorologist Ujjwal Upadhyaya had warned a day earlier that drizzle was likely to continue until Saturday evening, saying: “Thursday’s NPL match was lucky. On Saturday, however, drizzle is expected to continue until the evening. The chances of tomorrow’s matches taking place are low.” Meteorologist Binod Pokhrel said on Saturday morning that rain was likely in Kathmandu between 1 PM and 2 PM. By mid-afternoon, reporting had the evening fixture also unlikely to go ahead, with 7:41 PM named as the cut-off time for a result.

Then the evening brought the twist: the covers came off, the ground staff went to work, and the fixture written off in the afternoon was suddenly back in play. The earlier abandonment of Match 7 had shown how quickly decisions can change at Kirtipur. On Saturday, the forecast set the mood, but the ground staff and umpires decided late.

Points at Stake in Match 8

The two sides arrive in very different positions. Karnali Yaks lead the points table with four points from two wins, while Lumbini and Chitwan sit on three points each. Sudurpaschim, last season’s runners-up, have two points from two matches, having lost to Lumbini and beaten Pokhara. Biratnagar are still without a point after losing both of their opening matches, to Chitwan by eight runs and to Karnali by four wickets.

That gap shapes what a shared point would mean. If Match 8 is also abandoned, Sudurpaschim move to three points while Biratnagar bank their first point but remain winless from three attempts. If the match is played, a Sudurpaschim win takes them to four points, level with Karnali, while a Biratnagar win opens their account and gives a struggling campaign something to build on.

The captains are Dipendra Singh Airee for Sudurpaschim and Sandeep Lamichhane for Biratnagar, and both know a shortened game rewards different cricket: one big over can decide five overs a side. The full schedule still lists Sunday’s solitary fixture after tonight, so neither side can treat this as a free hit.

Why a Shortened Match Still Matters

It is tempting to treat a five-over contest as barely cricket, a lottery tacked on to a ruined day. That would be a mistake. For Biratnagar, a shortened game is a genuine chance to break a losing run before it hardens into a story about the whole season. For Sudurpaschim, it is a test of whether last season’s finalists can win ugly, with no time to recover from a bad over.

There is also a fairness question here. The NPL has no reserve days, so a washout cannot be replayed, and the shared point rewards a team that won its first two games exactly as it rewards a team that lost them both. Getting Match 8 played, even shortened, restores the principle that points should be earned on the field rather than handed out by the sky.

For supporters, the practical points are simple. Ticket holders for an abandoned match should check the official refund procedure; reporting during the day said refunds apply when a match is called off before the toss, as detailed in our report on Saturday’s ticket refunds. Fans following from home should watch the live scores page rather than travelling on the morning forecast.