Sudurpaschim Royals Beat Pokhara Avengers by 6 Wickets — Dipendra Singh Airee's 51 Not Out Brings the Royals Their First Win

On Monday, Sudurpaschim Royals were bowled out for 87 in the season opener and lost with 61 balls unused. On Wednesday at the same ground they chose to field, took wickets at regular intervals, and then chased in the manner they had failed to bat two days earlier. Pokhara Avengers, in their first match of the season, were 83 for 5 in the 13th over and owed their 145 for 7 almost entirely to Arjun Gharti's unbeaten 40 off 25 balls.

The Royals lost three wickets inside seven overs of the reply, and then Dipendra Singh Airee and Ishan Pandey added 74 for the fourth wicket to take the chase out of reach. Airee finished 51 not out off 36, Sherfane Rutherford hit a six to close it, and Sudurpaschim Royals won by 6 wickets with 19 balls remaining: their first points of the Nepal Premier League 2026, two from two games.

Pokhara's innings had the shape of a side that has not yet worked out how to pace twenty overs together. The powerplay was fine: 51 for 2, with Mahedi Hasan striking 32 off 21 balls, four fours and a six, after Dinesh Kharel had been caught behind off Hemant Dhami in the third over. Mahedi was caught by Airee off Anil Kharel in the last over of the powerplay, and from 49 for 2 the innings went into a slow decline. Kushal Bhurtel, 21 off 17, was caught by Kharel off Airee in the tenth; Shakib Al Hasan, 14 off 16, was caught by Scott Kuggeleijn off Kharel in the 11th; and Sadeera Samarawickrama was stumped by Binod Bhandari off Kharel in the 13th. Kharel's three overs cost 23 and took the three wickets that mattered most. At 83 for 5 after 12.2 overs, Pokhara were looking at a total well short of par.

Arjun Gharti changed that. The wicketkeeper came in at the fall of the fifth wicket and was still there at the end, 40 not out off 25 balls with four fours and a six. He added 32 with Dhananjaya Lakshan, who made 11 off 16 and survived a Royals review in the 15th over before being run out by Rutherford and Bhandari at 115, and after Kiran Thagunna had been caught behind off Kuggeleijn for 1, Gharti put on an unbroken 28 with Bipin Khatri for the eighth wicket. Pokhara scored 30 off the last 20 balls. Kuggeleijn's four overs cost 49, the most expensive figures of the night, and that is where most of the ground was recovered: 145 was still below par, but it at least gave the bowlers something to defend.

The Royals' chase did not begin the way a side chasing 146 would have planned. Binod Bhandari was bowled by Lakshan in the first over with the score on 9. Brandon McMullen gave the reply its early energy, 22 off 12 balls with two fours and a six, before he was lbw to Shakib Al Hasan in the fifth over, an over in which Pokhara had also gone to a review against him. Saif Zaib was run out by Thagunna and Gharti for 15 in the seventh over, and at 56 for 3 after 6.3 overs the memory of Monday's 87 was close enough to be uncomfortable.

It never came any closer. Dipendra Singh Airee and Ishan Pandey added 74 in 54 balls for the fourth wicket, and the required rate, never high, simply stopped being a factor. The Royals were 86 for 3 at the ten-over drinks break and passed 100 in the 12th. Pandey hit two fours and two sixes in his 37 off 31 before he was lbw to Mahedi Hasan in the 16th over, reviewing the decision without success, with the score on 130. By then there were 16 needed off 27 balls. Airee reached his fifty and Rutherford hit a six in his 8 not out off 4 balls, and the match was over with 19 balls to spare. Shakib's four overs for 24 were Pokhara's best; Mahedi's 31 and Bhurtel's 26 off 2.5 overs were where the runs leaked.

There is no match report to lean on here, so the scorecard has to speak for itself. Both powerplays produced exactly 51 for 2, and after that the two innings went in opposite directions. Pokhara took 8.4 more overs to reach 100; the Royals got there in 5.3, with Airee and Pandey scoring freely against Mahedi, Khatri and Bhurtel. Nothing in the numbers suggests a difficult surface. The two Royals bowlers who kept it tightest, Airee at 5.25 an over and Dhami at 4.66, took a wicket each, and Kuggeleijn's 49 was the one expensive spell on either side. The difference between the teams was simply that one partnership lasted: Pokhara's largest stand was 35 for the second wicket, the Royals' was 74.

Airee's day had two halves, and both counted. With the ball he bowled his four overs for 21, took the wicket of Bhurtel when Pokhara were trying to rebuild, and held the catch that removed Mahedi Hasan at the end of the powerplay. With the bat he walked in at 43 for 2 in the fifth over, saw Zaib run out within two overs, and then made 51 not out off 36 balls with four fours and two sixes, the innings that took his side from 56 for 3 to a win with 19 balls unused. On Monday he had been the Royals' top scorer with 27 in a total of 87. Two days later he was there at the end. Captains and senior players are measured by games like this one, when the previous result is still in the dressing room and somebody has to make it irrelevant.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

The Royals have two points from two games and, more usefully, a template: Kharel and Airee with the ball, Airee and Pandey in the middle order. The questions are at the top, where Bhandari and Zaib made 4 and 15 here, and with Kuggeleijn, whose four overs cost 49 and whose place as the overseas seamer needs to pay for itself. Pokhara Avengers have a game in hand on most of the field and some useful evidence from their first outing: Mahedi Hasan can set a powerplay, Gharti can close an innings from No. 7, and Shakib's spin is the attack's most reliable four overs. The middle order, which lost three wickets for 34 between the end of the powerplay and the 13th over, is what needs attention before their next match.