Lumbini Lions Beat Pokhara Avengers by 8 Wickets — Ruben Trumpelmann Strikes Second Ball, Rohit Paudel Finishes With 50 Balls to Spare

A few hours after Biratnagar and Janakpur had shared 346 runs at the same ground, the afternoon game at Kirtipur produced 195 in 31.4 overs, and most of the story was told in the first innings. Lumbini Lions chose to field, Ruben Trumpelmann bowled Arjun Kumal with the second ball of the match, and Pokhara Avengers never got going. They were 31 for 5 in the ninth over and finished on 97 for 9.

The reply had one brief wobble, two wickets inside the first two overs, before Rohit Paudel and Niroshan Dickwella closed it out. Lumbini Lions won by 8 wickets with 50 balls remaining and moved to the top of the table. Pokhara have now lost all three of their games.

Lumbini's bowling did not allow Pokhara a single passage of comfort. Trumpelmann bowled Kumal for 0 at 0 for 1, then had Sadeera Samarawickrama caught by Abhishesh Gautam at 11 in the third over. Sher Malla caught and bowled Bipin Acharya at 15. Tilak Bhandari removed the captain, Kushal Bhurtel, caught by Trumpelmann for 14 at 29 in the eighth over, and Paudel brought himself on for one over and had Shakib Al Hasan caught by Aasif Sheikh for 3. That over cost two runs. At 31 for 5 after 8.3 overs, the innings was effectively over as a contest.

The squeeze carried on through the middle. Trumpelmann returned to trap Arjun Gharti lbw at 50, Bhandari had Mahedi Hasan caught by D'Arcy Short at 52, and Gautam's four overs, including a maiden, cost 15 and ended with a return catch to remove Kiran Thagunna. Of the six Lumbini bowlers, none conceded more than 6.0 an over.

The chase began nervously. Aasif Sheikh was run out by Karunaratne and Bipin Khatri at 8 in the second over, and Short, after 13 off six balls, was caught by Aakash Chand off Khatri at 21 to end that over. Paudel then took over. He made 47 not out off 32 with three fours and three sixes, Dickwella made 27 not out off 26, and the pair added an unbroken 77 in less than ten overs. Paudel was one hit short of a fifty when the chase finished.

Pokhara's top five made 25 runs between them. Bhurtel's 14 off 20 was the highest of them, and the middle order did no better: Mahedi Hasan took 24 balls for 13 and Gharti, whose unbeaten 40 had rescued them against Sudurpaschim Royals on October 28, made 6 off 20. At 52 for 7 in the 16th over the question was whether they would reach three figures. Chamika Karunaratne got them close with 25 off 17, including two sixes, before he was run out by Dickwella in the last over, and Kiran Thagunna's 12 off 6 added 18 for the eighth wicket. Pokhara scored 45 from their last 28 balls, almost half their total, against the 52 they made from the first 92.

With the ball there was no total to defend. Shakib bowled two overs for 6, and Khatri took a wicket, but Mahedi went for 27 from four overs and Aakash Chand's 1.4 overs cost 25. Pokhara have now lost to Sudurpaschim Royals, Janakpur Bolts and Lumbini Lions, and their net run rate of -1.770 is the worst in the league.

The scorecard alone cannot say how much of this was the pitch and how much was Pokhara. The morning game at the same ground produced 174 for 3 and 172 for 7 with 21 sixes; this one produced nine sixes in total, and Lumbini's six bowlers conceded 93 runs from their 20 overs between them. Once Paudel and Dickwella were settled, though, Lumbini scored at close to eight an over without losing a wicket, which suggests the surface was not unplayable, and that the wickets of the first eight overs were the decisive factor. Our preview expected dew to help the side batting second in this slot. Lumbini chose to chase, and the conditions gave them no reason to regret it.

Trumpelmann's spell was 4 overs, 3 for 16, and the timing of the wickets mattered as much as the number. His first came with the second ball of the match. His second, Samarawickrama in the third over, left Pokhara 11 for 2. His third, Gharti lbw in the 15th, came just as Pokhara were trying to build something from 31 for 5. He also took the catch that removed Bhurtel. A new ball in the right hands is a quiet thing at first, a few dots and a raised finger, and only later do you look at the scoreboard and realise the game was decided before it had properly begun.

Our preview did not make a formal pick, but it leaned clearly towards Lumbini, calling them the strongest side in the NPL on form and saying a Pokhara win would need their overseas stars to fire together. The lean was right. The details were mixed. We expected Kishor Mahato and Sher Malla to lead the bowling; Mahato went wicketless in three overs and Malla took one, while Trumpelmann, whom the preview did not mention, did the damage. We hoped Kushal Bhurtel might produce a big innings for Pokhara; he made 14. And we said the side chasing in the afternoon slot might have a small edge, which is how it played out.

Lumbini Lions now lead the table with five points from three games, two wins and a no-result, and a net run rate of +4.051 that is far clear of the rest. Pokhara Avengers are bottom, the only side without a point after three games. Behind Lumbini, Biratnagar Kings, Karnali Yaks, Janakpur Bolts and Sudurpaschim Royals are all on four points, so there is still room for Pokhara to climb, but they need a win soon, and they need their top order to give them something to work with.