Trit Raj Das 61 Powers Janakpur to Second Straight NPL Win

Trit Raj Das was named player of the match after scoring 61 off 55 balls in Janakpur Bolts' nine-run win over Pokhara Avengers in NPL Match 9 at Kirtipur on Sunday.

Das Named Player of the Match

Janakpur Bolts opener Trit Raj Das was named player of the match after his 61 off 55 balls set up a nine-run win over Pokhara Avengers in Match 9 of the Nepal Premier League at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Sunday. Das hit seven fours and two sixes, reached his fifty off 49 balls, and was caught by Pokhara captain Kushal Bhurtel off Mahedi Hasan in the 18th over, with Janakpur on 117 for 5 at the time of his dismissal.

Janakpur, asked to bat first after losing the toss, posted 147 for 7 in their 20 overs, and Pokhara were held to 138 for 9 in reply. The result gave Janakpur their second win in three matches and lifted them to second in the standings on four points, while Pokhara stayed winless after two matches. It was the first full match of a rain-hit weekend.

An Anchor Innings Against a Former Franchise

Das and Moeen Ali gave Janakpur a fast start, putting on 45 without loss in the six-over powerplay, before Moeen's dismissal for 21 off 16 balls triggered a slowdown. Shakib Al Hasan was the bowler who changed the shape of the innings, taking three wickets for 15 runs in four overs and conceding only four runs while taking three wickets in his first three overs. Saif Hassan made one, captain Harmeet Singh nine and Anil Sah nine as Janakpur's middle order stalled, and Jimmy Neesham scored 11 off 11 balls.

What made Das's innings the match-winning one was its patience. A fifty off 49 balls is not a highlight-reel knock, but on a slowing Kirtipur surface it was exactly what the total needed: one batter staying in while wickets fell, so that Abhishek Tiwari's unbeaten 24 late in the innings had something to build on. The knock also carried a personal edge, because Das played for Pokhara in NPL 2025, and his first big innings of this season came against the franchise he left behind.

Moeen Ali and the Defence of 147

Defending 147 looked a modest job. Captain Kushal Bhurtel top-scored with 35 off 24 balls, but no other Pokhara batter passed 20, and the chase never found a partnership to match Das's anchor. Dinesh Kharel made three, Mahedi Hasan eight and Shakib nine off 17 balls, while Kiran Thagunna's 15 off five balls and Bipin Acharya's 20 off 19 balls were brief bursts rather than innings that could carry a chase.

Moeen Ali led the defence with three wickets for 13 runs in four overs, including a maiden, while Harmeet Singh took two for 20 and Saif Hassan two for 36, and James Neesham and Lalit Rajbanshi claimed one wicket each. Janakpur's bowlers took wickets just often enough that Pokhara could never settle, and Shakib's excellent three for 15 ended up in a losing cause because his own batting, like his team's, could not match it.

Pokhara Avengers and a Second Straight Defeat

For Pokhara, the defeat continued a worrying start. They had already lost their opening match, and they now sit seventh with no points from two games despite a squad built around international names. Shakib's bowling in this match showed what that squad can do, but his nine off 17 balls with the bat, Mahedi's eight and a top score of 35 from the captain point to the same problem in both matches: too much of the batting is being left to too few players, and the middle order has not yet produced an innings that changes a game.

That is the wider significance of Das's award beyond one match. Janakpur's season had started with a 19-run defeat to Karnali Yaks, then an eight-wicket win over Kathmandu Gorkhas, and this win confirms the recovery is real rather than a single good day. A team that can win a low-scoring game through a local batter's fifty and a disciplined bowling defence has more than one way to win. Pokhara, by contrast, are already playing catch-up.

Implications for the Janakpur Campaign

Janakpur now sit second on the points table, behind Karnali Yaks, the team that beat them in their opener, and ahead of the chasing pack with four points from three matches. The award also restores a Nepali name to the player-of-the-match list after Andre Russell's all-round show in Match 8 had ended the run of Nepali award winners that opened the season. That thread matters: a Nepali opener out-batted a side containing Shakib and Mahedi Hasan.

Janakpur's next test comes against Biratnagar Kings on Tuesday, November 3, a fixture that will show whether this second straight win is the start of a run or a good weekend. If Das can repeat this kind of anchoring innings, Janakpur will not need to rely on one overseas star to carry their batting, and their bowling, led by Moeen and Harmeet, has already shown it can defend a total under pressure. The full match report is covered in our report on Janakpur's nine-run win over Pokhara. For Das himself, the next step is to turn one award-winning fifty into the consistent season that makes him Janakpur's first-choice opener.