Moeen Ali — the two-time World Cup winner in Janakpur colours

108 runs and 7 wickets — the complete cricketer

Moeen Ali has scored 108 runs and taken 7 wickets in four matches in NPL Season 3 — the most complete return of any Janakpur Bolts player. The England all-rounder made an unbeaten 58 against Kathmandu Gorkhas in the side’s biggest win of the season, and his 3 for 13 against Pokhara Avengers is the best spell by a Janakpur spinner not named Harmeet Singh.

All-rounder. Overseas signing. Captain: Harmeet Singh. Head coach: Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Moeen Ali is an England all-rounder joining Janakpur Bolts for NPL Season 3, the last overseas announcement of the side’s star core. Born in Birmingham on 18 June 1987, he is a two-time World Cup winner — the 2019 ODI title and the 2022 T20 title, where he served as vice-captain — before retiring from international cricket in September 2024. A left-handed batter and right-arm off spinner, he played 68 Tests, 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for England, with 3,094 Test runs and 204 Test wickets.

The white-ball numbers underline his T20 value: 51 T20I wickets and 439 domestic T20 matches, a workload that makes him one of the most experienced franchise cricketers Janakpur has ever signed. In this league he is the tactical key — the top-order left-hand foil to a right-hand-heavy batting group, and the off-break counterpoint to three left-arm spinners.

His season has been steady rather than spectacular, which is the point. He made 58 not out off 51 balls against Kathmandu Gorkhas in the eight-wicket win, 21 off 16 in the nine-run win over Pokhara Avengers, and 19 off 22 in the opening defeat to Karnali Yaks. With the ball he has taken a wicket in every match he has bowled: 2 for 19 against Karnali, 1 for 23 against Kathmandu, 3 for 13 against Pokhara, and 1 for 13 against Biratnagar. He did not play the last two matches, against Lumbini Lions and Sudurpaschim Royals.

Season 3 in numbers

All figures cover matches through Match 21, played on Tuesday 10 November 2026.

Numbers from the NPL season file, updated 10 November 2026, covering matches through Match 21. Strike rate is runs per 100 balls; economy is runs per over.

Match by match

Every innings and every spell, in match order. An asterisk means not out.

What the numbers mean

The balance of the two disciplines is what Janakpur bought. One hundred and eight runs at an average of 36 and a strike rate of 104.85, plus seven wickets at an economy of 4.86 — the most economical regular bowler in the side. No other Janakpur player is doing both jobs at this level: Harmeet Singh leads the wickets but averages 13 with the bat, and Saif Hassan, the side’s top run-scorer with 140 runs, has only four wickets. Moeen is the only Bolt whose batting and bowling both belong in the side’s top three.

The absence in the last two matches hurt. Janakpur lost both — by 16 runs to Lumbini Lions and by 27 runs to Sudurpaschim Royals — and in Match 21 the middle order managed 93 all out with nobody passing 21. An unbeaten 58 against the table leaders shows what the side missed. Whether he returns for the last league match against Chitwan Rhinos on Friday is the question that decides how much of Janakpur’s season is left.

The Bolts’ last stand

The Bolts are fifth on 4 points from six matches, with a net run rate of −0.303 — the best of the three teams tied on 4 points, ahead of Biratnagar Kings (−0.820) and Karnali Yaks (−0.846). That tiebreak only matters if they win their last match: Chitwan Rhinos on Friday 13 November at 4:30 PM NST at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. Win it and Janakpur reach 6 points; then they need Chitwan to lose to Karnali on Sunday, and Biratnagar and Karnali to win no more than one of their two remaining matches each. The top four qualify for the playoffs — Qualifier 1 on Tuesday 17 November, the Eliminator on Wednesday 18 November, Qualifier 2 on Thursday 19 November, and the final on Saturday 21 November.