Karnali Yaks produced a dominant all-round performance to hand Lumbini Lions a humiliating 9-wicket defeat in the Nepal Premier League (NPL). The victory was powered by a blistering century from Wat, who also climbed to the top of the tournament’s run-scorers list. The defeat marks Lumbini Lion’s first loss of the season, leaving them with 2 points from two matches. Karnali now join them on 2 points from their second outing. This is the first victory for Karnali Yaks in the NPL 2025
Chasing 157, Karnali Yaks cruised to victory in just 12.2 overs, losing only one wicket. After opener Priyank Panchal departed for 12 with the score at 38, William Bessisto joined Wat at the crease. The pair made full use of the powerplay, pushing Karnali to 63 runs and putting Lumbini’s bowlers under immediate pressure.
Wat was unstoppable. He smashed boundaries at will, bringing up a half-century off only 29 balls. He ultimately reached a stunning century off just 41 deliveries, hitting 6 fours and 10 sixes—the fastest hundred in NPL history and the second of this season. The previous fastest belonged to Andres Goss, who had scored an unbeaten 104 off 55 balls against Lumbini in the inaugural season.
Wat’s explosive knock single-handedly took the game away from Lumbini, guiding Karnali to their first win of the tournament and opening their account with two points. Only Ser Mall managed to claim a wicket for Lumbini.
Earlier, Lumbini Lions were restricted to 156 for 7 after being sent in to bat by Karnali Yaks captain Sompal Kami at the TU Cricket Ground. Their innings began poorly—losing opener Sandeep Jora in the second over with just one run on the board—and they struggled to 7 runs after four overs.
Despite a brief acceleration in the sixth over, Lumbini’s top order continued to collapse. Darcy Short fell for 19, Dilip Nath for 6, and Gulbadin Naib for 7, leaving the side reeling at 61 for 4. Captain Rohit Paudel steadied the innings with a composed 49 but fell one run short of his half-century.
A late surge in the final five overs saw Lumbini add 68 runs, thanks to JJ Smith’s 23 off 14 balls and an unbeaten 29 from Ruben Trumpelmann. However, their total proved far from competitive against Karnali’s powerhouse batting display.
Nandan Yadav led Karnali Yak’s bowling with figures of 2 wickets, while Sompal, Gulshan, Wat, Bipin, and Yuvraj chipped in with one wicket each.