Lumbini Lions Is The Champion Of Nepal Premier League 2025
Lumbini Lions became the winner of Nepal Premier League 2025 as they defeated Sudurpaschim Royals by 6 wicket. Earlier, Dipendra Singh Airee, won the toss and decided to bat. Sudurpashchim scored 85 runs, losing all their wickets in 20 overs.
Lumbini’s bowlers made Sudurpashchim’s decision to bat look wrong. In the first powerplay, Sudurpashchim was restricted to just 20 runs, losing 3 wickets. This was the first time in the current NPL that two Nepali batters, Vinod Bhandari and Ishan Pandey, opened for Sudurpashchim.
In the final ball of the first over, opener Vinod was dismissed for a golden duck. He was caught by Dinesh Adhikari off a ball from Trampelman. In the third over, Selden Jackson, who came in at one-down, was out for just 1 run after being trapped lbw by a ball from Trampelman. By the time they lost their second wicket, they had only managed 7 runs.
Next, Arif Sheikh added 6 runs before being dismissed lbw by Sher Mall on the ball of the 5th over. At 19 runs, Sudurpashchim had already lost 3 wickets and was under pressure. At the end of the 10th over, they were restricted to just 41 runs.
In the 11th over, Sudurpashchim faced another setback. Captain Rohit achieved a hat-trick. In the 4th ball of the over, Sudurpashchim’s captain and key player, Dipendra, was caught for 13 runs by Trampelman.
On the 5th ball of the same over, Dipak Bohra was dismissed for a golden duck, caught by Sandip Jora. Then, on the 6th and final ball of the over, Punita Mehra was also out for a golden duck, getting trapped lbw.
Rohit became the second player in the NPL to take a hat-trick. Previously, Sahab Alam of Kathmandu Gorkhas had achieved a hat-trick against Pokhara Avengers. After 11 overs, Sudurpashchim had managed only 44 runs and found themselves in a tough spot.
Except for opener Ishan, no other Sudurpashchim player could stay at the crease. Sher Mall dismissed Hermit Singh by having him caught off a Darcy shot. He had scored just 10 runs. Sudurpashchim’s struggles continued as their eighth wicket fell, with opener Ishan also being dismissed by Sher Mall.
In the 16th over, on the 3rd ball, Ishan, who had scored 33 runs off 51 balls with 1 four, was caught by Mobeen Shubasingh. He ended up as Sudurpashchim’s top scorer. At 8 wickets down, Sudurpashchim had managed just 71 runs. Sher Mall took 3 wickets for 18 runs in 4 overs, bringing his season tally to 17 wickets.
For the ninth wicket, Scott Kugelan made 10 runs before being out off a ball from Tilak Bhandari. After Scott’s dismissal at 10 runs, Sudurpashchim was all out for 85 runs.
For Lumbini Lions, Trampelman was the standout performer, taking 3 wickets for just 3 runs in 2.1 overs. Rohit also impressed with figures of 3 wickets for 12 runs in 4 overs, taking his season tally to 10 wickets.