Since last year, CAN has adopted a round-robin format for the Prime Minister’s Cup instead of the previous system of two pools of five teams each, where the top two from each group advanced to the semi-finals. This change guaranteed each team at least nine matches instead of the previous minimum of four.
Last year, the tournament was partially hosted outside Kathmandu for the first time, with Siddharthanagar Ground staging 11 matches. This year, the entire tournament was played outside Kathmandu at three venues in Lumbini Province: Deukhuri International Cricket Stadium, Extra Tech Oval, and Siddharthanagar Ground.
In terms of results, the final was almost a repeat of last year’s, as the Nepal Police Club defeated the Tribhuwan Army Club by six wickets. This is NPC’s fourth title in the 50-over PM Cup. APF improved from last year’s fifth-place finish (behind Bagmati and Madhesh) to secure third place, while Bagmati finished fourth despite inconsistent performances. At the time of writing, only the top four teams are guaranteed a spot in next year’s Jay Trophy, the two-day red-ball format tournament.
One notable shortcoming of this year’s tournament was the lack of centuries from batters. Last year’s PM Cup saw ten centuries from nine different players, all at the TU Ground, with Binod Bhandari registering multiple tons. With the tournament moving away from TU Ground, batters struggled in the tougher conditions, managing only five centuries from four players. Sudur Paschim’s Kiran Thagunna scored multiple centuries, including a rare match-winning second-inning ton during his team’s six-wicket win over Gandaki. Five days later, Trit Raj Das joined him with a sparkling unbeaten 112 against Koshi. Last year, two batters (Naren Bhatta and Aasif Sheikh) scored centuries while chasing, though both ended on the losing side.
Last year, only one team (Madhesh against APF) successfully chased a 200-plus total. This time, four teams managed to chase 200-plus totals on five occasions, with Madhesh achieving the feat twice. In a thrilling three-day period, Gandaki tied against Madhesh while chasing 246 before winning in a super over, APF successfully chased 255 against Koshi despite being 164/8, and Madhesh ended the round-robin stage by chasing 260 against Bagmati. Notably, only three times in the entire history of the Men’s PM Cup has a team successfully chased a 250-plus target—two of those instances occurred in this edition.
Last year, the lowest total successfully defended was 132 by Army against Gandaki. This year, Madhesh defended 102 against Sudur Paschim (58 all out), with Bishal Patel delivering a sensational spell, reducing them to 12/7 at one stage. Bagmati failed to chase 116 against Lumbini, losing by 48 runs. Gandaki endured a nightmare outing, being bowled out for just 31—the second-lowest total in tournament history. Ironically, they had bowled out Koshi for just 25 last year while defending 168.
The number of 250-plus totals increased from eight last year (including three 300-plus scores) to 13 this time, though none surpassed 297. Most of these totals came at Siddharthanagar, while Lamahi—widely regarded as the most challenging ground for scoring—produced just one such total.
Hits
Young Arjun Kumal finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 374 runs from nine games, including a century and two fifties, earning him the Best Batter award. This year, ten batters (none from last year) crossed the 300-run mark, compared to just four in the previous edition. Pawan Sarraf, who made 329 runs last year, amassed 298 this time. Standout performers included Arjun Kumal, Trit Raj Das (365), Ishan Pandey (363), Arjun Gharti (303), and Prajjwol Thapa (290). Kiran Thagunna improved upon last year’s tally of 284 runs, scoring 337 this time with an impressive strike rate exceeding 103 in both editions. Last year, only Kushal Malla and Thagunna had a 100-plus strike rate among the top 25 run-scorers.
Lalit Rajbanshi, who took a record-breaking 41 wickets and became the first bowler to reach 100 career wickets in PM Cup history, was named both Best Bowler and Player of the Tournament. Shahab Alam also reached the 100-wicket milestone, taking 31 wickets for Army. Rijan Dhakal improved on last year’s tally with 23 wickets, finishing third on the list, while Karnali’s Dipendra Rawat (22 wickets), Ajay Chauhan (19 wickets), and Sher Malla (18 wickets) made an impact in the bowling department.
Shubh Kansakar, the fourth-highest run-scorer in the Jay Trophy (197 runs), finished with 261 runs in this edition of the PM Cup. Had he converted his starts in his last four innings (20, 16*, 39, 36), he could have ended with 320-330 runs, reflecting his true potential.
Bishal Patel, who managed only three wickets last year, took 17 this time, including a stunning 6/18 against Sudur Paschim. The left-handed all-rounder was particularly dangerous with the new ball.
Dipendra Singh Airee nearly doubled his previous year’s tally, scoring 308 runs at a strike rate of 126.22 compared to last year’s 165 runs at 136.36. Two of the three fastest fifties in the tournament belonged to him, including a blistering 22-ball half-century against Gandaki. Bhim Sharki also improved on last year’s disappointing 156-run tally, scoring 234 runs this time, though apart from his 89 against Madhesh at Lamahi, he remained below his best.
Basir Ahamad outshone Kushal Malla in the Army lineup with 338 runs and six wickets. He also performed well in the Jay Trophy, scoring 184 runs in four matches with two fifties.
Kushal Bhurtel registered 325 runs with four fifties, nearly doubling last year’s 163 runs (with no fifty). Karan KC took 13 wickets in nine games (compared to 10 in 10 games last year), including a match-winning 3/30 in the final.
Misses
Mayan Yadav, who topped the Jay Trophy scoring charts with 268 runs two months ago and amassed 287 runs in last year’s PM Cup, endured a horror tournament, managing only 43 runs.
A shift in the batting order saw Kushal Malla score only 102 runs in six innings, a sharp decline from last year’s 246 in 10 matches. Similarly, Gulshan Jha struggled, scoring just 123 runs in nine innings (best of 36) while taking eight wickets. National team skipper Rohit Paudel had an underwhelming tournament, making 204 runs at 22.66 with two fifties, while his APF teammate Asif Sheikh managed only 211 runs at 23.44, a drop from last year’s 204 runs in just six innings.
Last year’s highest run-scorer, Anil Sah (386 runs), could only muster 226 runs, including an unbeaten 70 in the final game. His fitness struggles throughout the tournament affected his performance.
Koshi’s captain Ankit Subedi, who scored 240 runs last year, managed just 128 runs this time, shifting from an opening role to number seven. His teammate Sujan Thapaliya also struggled, scoring 200 runs compared to last year’s 262.
Army skipper Binod Bhandari, who scored 351 runs last year with two centuries, managed only 214 runs. His disappointment was compounded by yet another final loss to NPC, marking the Army’s fifth PM Cup final defeat—three to NPC and two to APF. The Army’s lack of experienced top-order batters remains a concern, prompting Bhandari to invite Arjun Kumal to join the team.
A major disappointment was the injury to Nandan Yadav, who stayed in Nepal hoping to earn a national cap. After an impressive NPL and Jay Trophy, he started well with 3/38 against APF but suffered an injury the next day after bowling just 6.2 overs against Army.
