Sher Malla — Lumbini Lions' leading wicket-taker, NPL 2026

Season 3 in numbers

Four matches, eight wickets, 83 runs conceded in 16 overs. Malla is the only Lions bowler with a wicket in every game, and his economy of 5.19 is the best of any Lumbini bowler to have played all four matches. The next-best Lions bowler, Ruben Trumpelmann, has six wickets; nobody else in the squad has more than five.

The batting is a footnote — 12 runs in two innings, including an unbeaten zero without facing a ball against Janakpur — because his job is with the ball. Eight wickets at 5.19 an over, in a season where the league’s leading wicket-taker has 11, puts him sixth on the league chart and first for his team.

Season 3 figures cover every completed match through Match 21 (the abandoned Match 7 produced no play), compiled from the published match scorecards and updated 10 November 2026.

Match by match

Every Sher Malla spell in NPL Season 3 so far, in the order they happened.

The opening night was the statement: three for 11 in four overs as the Royals were bowled out for 87, and the Player of the Match award as the champions won by seven wickets. Since then he has taken at least one wicket in every game — one for 24 against Pokhara, two for 29 against Janakpur, two for 19 against Kathmandu — and he has bowled his full four overs in all four matches, which is the captain’s way of saying he is trusted with the hardest overs. His 12 with the bat against Kathmandu was the fourth-highest score in a Lumbini innings of 124, on a night when the batting failed around him.

From Emerging Player to attack leader

Malla was retained in June 2026 after a 2025 season that made him one of the league’s discoveries: joint-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets in ten games at 13.76, and the season’s Emerging Player.

His playoff ledger in 2025 was decisive — three for 22 in the Eliminator, three for 31 in Qualifier 2, three for 18 in the final — and it is why the Lions trust him with the highest-pressure overs they have. In Season 3 he leads the spin attack, bowling in tandem with Abhishesh Gautam through the middle overs, the pairing that defined the champions’ identity last year. The 2025 formula has not changed; Malla is simply doing more of it, against sides that now plan for him.

Where the Lions stand

Lumbini are third after Match 21 — seven points from five games, with the best net run rate in the league at +1.501. The full table is on the NPL Points Table, and every result is on the NPL Results page.

Malla’s eight wickets are the backbone of a defence that has conceded fewer runs per over than any side except the team above them. The Lions have won three of their five games, and in all three wins he took at least one wicket — the attack works when he does. Two wins from the last two league games would take Lumbini to 11 points and a top-two finish; one win should still be enough for the playoffs. The run rate, already the league’s best, is the cushion if it comes down to a tie.

What’s next

Two league games left in the Nepal Premier League, then the playoffs. The full list of every NPL fixture is on the NPL Schedule.

• Match 23 — Karnali Yaks vs Lumbini Lions: Thursday 12 November 2026, 4:30 PM NST (3:45 PM PKT, 10:45 AM UTC), TU International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
• Match 26 — Biratnagar Kings vs Lumbini Lions: Saturday 14 November 2026, 4:30 PM NST (3:45 PM PKT, 10:45 AM UTC), TU International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
• 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 — every playoff starts at 4:30 PM NST.

Follow every NPL result as it happens on SialTV, with the points table updated after every match day.