Dipendra Rawat — three squads in, still waiting for a game

Player details

Season 3 numbers

Season 3 numbers below cover the league through Match 21 (10 November 2026). Karnali’s last game was Match 19, on 9 November, so these figures are complete for the Yaks.

Dipendra Rawat has no batting or bowling entry in the Season 3 stats file — he has not played in any of Karnali’s five matches through Match 21 (10 November 2026). The numbers below are therefore blank, and the honest thing to say is why: the Yaks’ XI has leaned on overseas names and the retained core, and the off-break overs have gone to Pawan Sarraf and Unish Thakuri.

That does not make the signing pointless. Rawat is the squad player who makes XIs work — the right-arm off-break is the classic middle-overs squeeze option, and his value to head coach Gyanendra Malla is institutional memory: he knows the dressing-room systems, the Kirtipur conditions, and exactly what the captain wants from his part-time overs. Two games are left, and squads win seasons as well as XIs do.

A Karnali original

Rawat was signed for the franchise’s inaugural 2024 season at NPR 3 lakh, kept through Season 2, released in June 2026, and then bought back for NPR 5 lakh at the Season 3 auction. The right-handed batter who bowls right-arm off-break has now been part of three consecutive Yaks squads — a continuity rare among domestic players in a league rebuilt by auction every year.

Born on 9 June 2002, he is still only 24. The buy-back price says the franchise rated him above the release: five lakh is not a token bid for a player you do not want. It is a price for someone the coaches trust to be ready when the call comes.

What he offers when the call comes

Rawat’s cricket is built on utility. His right-arm off-break is a tight stump-to-stump line with subtle changes of pace, and it turns away from left-handers — a genuinely useful angle in a squad whose frontline spin is left-arm heavy. He will not bowl four overs every game, but he gives Sompal Kami a matchup card against left-hand-dominant middle orders.

With the bat, the right-hander is a grafter rather than a dasher, capable of holding an end while the designated hitters do the damage around him. Two disciplines, no fuss: that is the whole profile, and it is the profile of a player who is one injury or one tactical change away from the XI.

The run-in, and the wait

Karnali sit seventh on four points from five matches, with a net run rate of minus 0.846 — the worst in the league. The full table is on the NPL Points Table, and the remaining fixtures are on the NPL Schedule. Two league games are left: Lumbini Lions on Thursday 12 November and Chitwan Rhinos on Sunday 15 November. Win both and the Yaks reach eight points — enough, probably, unless Biratnagar Kings, who can also reach eight, edge them on net run rate. For Rawat, the run-in is the last window of the season: an injury, a form dip or a tactical change could open the door, and the whole point of a three-squad veteran is that he is ready when it does. Every Karnali result is on the Nepal Premier League hub — follow it all on SialTV.