Chitwan Beat Biratnagar by 8 Runs in NPL Match 2 Thriller

Eight runs. That was the margin in the first match of Tuesday’s double-header, as Chitwan Rhinos defended 157 for 3 to beat Biratnagar Kings by eight runs at TU Ground, Kirtipur, on 27 October 2026. Dawid Malan’s 70 off 50 balls set the total, and Kamal Singh Airee’s four wickets for 26 runs, the Player of the Match performance, kept Biratnagar eight short, bowled out for 149 in 19.3 overs. It was the second one-sided chapter in a row for a rivalry that has never produced a close game, and it left both teams with very different starts to Season 3.

Malan’s 70 sets 157

Chitwan’s innings was built around one man. Dawid Malan scored 70 off 50 balls, anchoring the Rhinos to 157 for 3 in their 20 overs. It was the kind of innings that does not need support acts to matter — steady at first, then damaging enough that Biratnagar’s chase always had a mountain to climb.

Biratnagar’s bowlers kept Chitwan to three wickets down, but they could not keep Malan quiet, and 157 on a Kirtipur surface where the tournament’s first innings had managed only 87 the day before was a serious total. Captain Sandeep Lamichhane, leading Biratnagar, went wicketless in his four overs, conceding 23 runs, and the Kings were left needing 158 to win.

Kamal Airee’s four keeps Biratnagar 8 short

Biratnagar’s chase never quite got going, and it ended at 149 all out in 19.3 overs — eight runs short, with three balls unused. Kamal Singh Airee did the damage with four wickets for 26 runs, a spell that earned him Player of the Match and broke the chase at every point it threatened to build.

One clarification matters for anyone following the tournament: this Kamal Airee plays for Chitwan Rhinos. He is not Dipendra Singh Airee, the Sudurpaschim Royals captain — a different player with a similar name, and the distinction mattered on the day, because it was Chitwan’s Kamal who decided this match.

Level head-to-head, another one-sided chapter

The two sides came into this match level at one win each across the first two seasons, and both previous meetings had been one-sided. Biratnagar won the first by 51 runs in Season 1; Chitwan answered by 48 runs in Season 2. Match 2 kept the pattern going — a third meeting, a third comfortable margin, only this time the eight-run gap was the closest of the three.

Biratnagar finished third in Season 2 after sixth in Season 1, while Chitwan finished seventh in Season 2 after fourth in Season 1 — so the Kings carried the better recent-season finish into this match, even though the Rhinos had won the most recent meeting. Form, once again, counted for little against this rivalry’s habit of blowouts.

What it means for both sides

Chitwan banked two points and the tournament’s first successful defence of a total. For a side that finished seventh last season, beating the third-placed team from Season 2 is exactly the start a campaign needs. Biratnagar, meanwhile, opened with a defeat that will sting precisely because it was close — eight runs, three balls left, a chase that fell apart at the death.

Neither side waits long for the next test. Both play again in Saturday’s double-header at Kirtipur on 31 October: Chitwan meet defending champions Lumbini Lions at 12:30 PM NST, and Biratnagar face Sudurpaschim Royals at 5:00 PM NST. Two points each, and for Biratnagar, a first win to chase.