Yuvraj Samra's 45-Ball Century Powers Pokhara to 217

Nineteen-year-old Canadian opener Yuvraj Samra struck the first century of Nepal Premier League Season 3 on Monday, 9 November 2026, smashing 102 from 48 balls as Pokhara Avengers posted 217 for 3 against Karnali Yaks in Match 19 at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur — the first 200-plus total of the season and the second-highest total in NPL history.

A fifty in 23 balls, a hundred in 45

Pokhara won the toss and chose to bat first in their first day match of the season, and Samra set the tone from the start. The start was not entirely smooth: Mahedi Hasan fell for 5 from 16 balls in the fourth over, caught by Ariful Islam off Sompal Kami with the score on 27. From there, Samra took the innings over.

He had already shown what was coming two days earlier, when he struck 19 from 14 balls with four fours on his NPL debut against Chitwan Rhinos. Against Karnali, the same attacking intent produced something far bigger. He reached his fifty from just 23 balls, with six fours and two sixes, and by the drinks break after ten overs Pokhara were 91 for 1, with Samra unbeaten on 65 and Kushal Bhurtel on 20.

The hundred arrived in the 15th over, from his 45th delivery, with ten fours and six sixes behind it. It was the first century of the third season, and Samra's first hundred in the league. He fell in the next over, caught by Ariful Islam off Mark Watt with Pokhara on 163 for 2, but the innings had already changed the shape of the match — and of Pokhara's season.

Pokhara's scoring tells the story of the innings. They reached 50 in seven overs, 100 in 11 overs, 150 in 13.3 overs and 200 in 18.4 overs, finishing at 10.85 runs an over. For a side whose batting had managed no fifty in its first four matches of the season, the contrast could hardly have been sharper.

The 136-run stand with Bhurtel

Samra did not do it alone. His second-wicket stand with Kushal Bhurtel was worth 136 runs from 68 balls, the third century partnership of the season and the biggest partnership of Season 3 so far. The two left-handers kept Karnali's bowlers under pressure from the moment they came together, and the stand only ended when Bhurtel fell in the 18th over.

Bhurtel reached his own fifty from 28 balls, with six sixes, and finished on 62 from 39 deliveries before he was caught by wicketkeeper Deepak Dumre off Kami, leaving Pokhara at 179 for 3. It was Bhurtel's third half-century in the league, and it gave Pokhara exactly what the side had lacked all season: a second batter scoring freely at the other end while the opener attacked.

The partnership also mattered because of who it came against. Karnali's attack had Sompal Kami, their captain and most reliable bowler, and Mark Watt, whose left-arm spin had already dismissed Samra. Neither could slow the pair down. Kami finished as Karnali's most effective bowler with two wickets for 24 runs, and Watt claimed one for 34, but the other six bowlers Karnali used went wicketless.

A 38-run finish takes Pokhara past 200

With Samra and Bhurtel both gone, the finish fell to captain Chamika Karunaratne, and he provided it in emphatic style. Karunaratne smashed an unbeaten 35 from 11 balls, with three fours and three sixes, as Pokhara added 38 runs in the final two overs. Sunny BK, on his NPL debut, remained not out on three from six deliveries at the other end.

The late surge carried Pokhara past 200 for the first time this season, and past every total any side had managed in Season 3. Only one total in the league's history stands above this one: Biratnagar Kings' 220 for 6 against Pokhara themselves on 18 November 2025. In that sense, the innings was a record twice over — the best of this season, and the second-best the league has ever seen.

Gulsan Jha's figures summed up Karnali's day with the ball: two overs, 30 runs, including four wides. Karnali used eight bowlers in the innings and only two of them took a wicket, a measure of how completely Pokhara's batters controlled the twenty overs.

Where the century sits in NPL history

Samra is the third Pokhara player to score a century in the league, and the fourth centurion in NPL history. Andre Gous did it for Pokhara against Lumbini Lions in the first season, and Adam Rossington followed with 108 against Karnali in the second season. The only other hundred in the league's history is Mark Watt's 114 not out for Karnali against Lumbini Lions on 22 November 2025, which remains the highest individual score in the league.

The hundred also continues a remarkable run for Samra himself. At the 2026 T20 World Cup in Chennai, he scored a hundred against New Zealand — the first player from an Associate nation to score a T20 World Cup hundred, and the youngest centurion in the tournament's history at 19 years and 141 days. Nine months later, he has produced the same feat in a different league, on a different continent, in only his second match in it.

For Pokhara, the timing could hardly be better. The Avengers had lost all four of their matches before this one and sat at the bottom of the table, with a batting order that had stopped scoring. Their captain had changed, their overseas signings had been reshuffled, and the side had not produced a single fifty in the season before Samra's. One innings has given them a total to defend, a first century to celebrate, and a reason to believe the season is not over.

Who is Yuvraj Samra

Samra was born on 29 September 2006 in Brampton, Ontario, and named after Indian great Yuvraj Singh. A left-handed opener, he came through age-group cricket in Canada before touring with the senior side in early 2024, and he made his ODI and T20I debuts for Canada in March 2025, against the Netherlands and Namibia. He marked his T20I debut with 37 from 18 balls.

He has been breaking Canadian records ever since. His 15-ball fifty against the Bahamas in a World Cup qualifier was the fastest by a Canadian in T20Is, and then came the World Cup hundred against New Zealand. Pokhara signed him on 6 November, alongside UAE bowler Maroof Merchant, after losing three matches in a row — looking, in the words of the moment, for the one innings that changes a game. Two matches into his NPL career, Samra has now played it.

What it means for Pokhara

The immediate question is whether 217 is enough. Karnali need 218 to win, and a target of that size has never been chased down in the league. But whatever the second innings brings, the first has already done its work for Pokhara: it has shown that this batting order can score quickly, that its new opener can dominate an attack, and that the side at the bottom of the table can still produce the innings of the season.

Pokhara's next matches will show whether this was a single afternoon of brilliance or the start of a recovery. For now, the Avengers have the first century of Season 3, the second-highest total in league history, and a 19-year-old opener who looks entirely at home on the biggest stage Nepali cricket can offer.