Usama Mir — Chitwan Rhinos leg-spinner, NPL 2026

Player details

The PSL record

At the 2024 Pakistan Super League he was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, taking 24 wickets in 12 matches for Multan Sultans. His most extensive senior record is in T20 cricket: 192 matches, 704 runs, 231 wickets — the record of a specialist who has made a career out of the format’s hardest job, taking wickets in the middle overs.

His franchise and county teams include Karachi Kings, Multan Sultans, Worcestershire, Manchester Originals and Melbourne Stars, and he signed a multi-year Worcestershire agreement beginning in 2026. The PSL record is the credential that brought him to Chitwan: a leg-spinner who takes wickets in clusters, in a league where wickets are the currency.

The World Cup first

At the 2023 Cricket World Cup he became the first concussion substitute in World Cup history, replacing Shadab Khan against South Africa and taking 2 for 45. It is the kind of first that only happens once — and it happened to a bowler good enough to be called on in a World Cup game and take two wickets on the spot.

He made his ODI debut for Pakistan against New Zealand in January 2023, dismissing Kane Williamson for his first international wicket, and his T20I debut in January 2024. The Williamson wicket is the calling card: a leg-spinner’s first international victim, one of the best batters in the world.

No overs yet — the wait for a debut

There is no batting or bowling entry for him in the Season 3 statistics through Match 21 — he has not batted or bowled in a league game yet this season. That is the honest state of the record, not a gap in the page: the numbers will appear here as soon as he gets his first game.

The leg-spin brief is the variation Chitwan’s attack lacks: the middle-overs wickets, the wrong’un, the ball that turns away from the right-hander and brings the stumps into play. The attack so far has run on the seam of Rijan Dhakal and Kamal Singh Airee and the off-spin of Raza and Malla — Mir’s leg-spin is the one angle nobody else in the squad offers. Chitwan’s results so far are on the NPL Results page.

The wait is the familiar overseas story: signed late, announced on 15 October, and still to be fitted into an XI that has already won twice. The last two games, against Janakpur and Karnali, could be the stage — a playoff race is exactly when a wicket-taking leg-spinner earns his signing.

Two games to make the difference

Chitwan are fourth after Match 21, with five points from five games and a net run rate of +0.009. The full table is on the NPL Points Table, and the remaining fixtures are on the NPL Schedule. Two league games are left: Janakpur Bolts on Friday 13 November and Karnali Yaks on Sunday 15 November. Win both and the Rhinos reach nine points — enough to guarantee a playoff place.

For Mir, the run-in is two games to make the difference — the leg-spinner’s brief in a playoff race, against batters who have not faced him yet. Every Chitwan result is on the Nepal Premier League hub — follow it all on SialTV.