Rohit Paudel after hat-trick in NPL final - (Source: NPL/X.com)
On Saturday, December 13, the much-awaited final of the Nepal Premier League took place as Sudurpaschim Royals locked horns against Lumbini Lions in Kirtipur. SPR won the toss and opted to bat first. However, the decision turned into a nightmare as the Dipendra Singh Airee-led side got off to a horrendous start.
Notably, the Royals were six down with just 50 runs on the board, and the star bowler was no one other than Rohit Paudel. The Nepal cricket captain showed his bowling prowess and picked up a hat-trick to rattle Airee and his men in the final.
Paudel, in his second over of the match, took three straight wickets on the 4th, 5th and 6th balls of the over. On the 4th ball of the 11th over, Paudel got the captain himself, followed by Dipak Bohra's wicket on the next ball. Rohit completed his hat-trick by trapping Puneet Mehra on the golden duck.
Rohit Paudel is a strong contender for the player of the tournament award
The 23-year-old is having a tournament to remember as the Nepal captain has performed both with bat and ball. The southpaw has 260 runs in nine innings, averaging 28.89. Further, he has no fifties, but six thirty-plus scores in nine innings.
Even with the ball, Paudel has 10 wickets in just five innings, striking at a rate of a wicket after every 7th delivery in the tournament. Talking about the ongoing final, at the time of writing this article, Sudurpaschim Royals are 63/7 and Rohit has registered the figures of 3/12 in his four overs.
However, despite solid performance for Nepal, Paudel has failed to garner interest from IPL teams and will miss the upcoming IPL 2026 mini-auction.
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