Title defences are won by bankers, and Lumbini Lions opened theirs with the most reliable one they own. Sher Malla took three wickets for 11 runs and won Player of the Match as the defending champions bowled Sudurpaschim Royals out for 87 and won by seven wickets in NPL Season 3 Match 1. It was a familiar script: the right-arm offbreak bowler from Dhangadi had finished the 2025 title season as the league’s joint-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets in ten games, and his three playoff spells had carried Lumbini to the crown.
| Full name | Sher Malla |
| Born | 1 December 2002, Dhangadi |
| Role | Right-arm offbreak bowler, left-hand bat, bowling all-rounder |
| Team | Lumbini Lions (retained June 2026) |
| Season 2 | 10 matches, 17 wickets (joint-highest), average 13.76, economy 6.50, Emerging Player |
| Season 3 | Player of the Match in Match 1, 3 for 11 against Sudurpaschim |
The opener that set the tone
Match 1 lasted barely 27 overs in total, and Malla owned the middle of it. Sudurpaschim were bowled out for 87 in 17.2 overs, with Kishor Mahato taking four wickets for 22 runs and Anil Kharel two for 9, before D’Arcy Short hit 40 off 18 balls and Aasif Sheikh made 32 off 25 in a 71-run stand that carried Lumbini to 88 for 3 in just 9.5 overs.
Malla’s three wickets for 11 runs won him Player of the Match, and the margin, seven wickets with 61 balls to spare, sent the season’s first message. Defending champions do not ease into title defences; they strangle the opposition in the middle overs, and Malla’s four overs are where that strangling happens.
Built for knockouts
Season 2 explains why the champions trust him with the highest-pressure overs. Malla took 17 wickets in ten games at an average of 13.76 and an economy of 6.50, finishing as the league’s joint-highest wicket-taker and winning the Emerging Player award. His three playoff spells were decisive: three wickets for 22 runs in the Eliminator, three for 31 in Qualifier 2, and three for 18 in the final, where Lumbini beat Sudurpaschim by six wickets to lift the trophy.
His method is right-arm offbreak in the classical containing mould, with one crucial difference: he takes wickets. An economy of 6.50 across a full title-winning season, paired with 17 wickets at 13.76, is the signature of a bowler who attacks the stumps, varies his pace, and lets scoreboard pressure do the rest. Three playoff spells at those figures show a temperament that sharpens rather than wilts in knockouts.
From Janakpur squad to champions’ banker
Malla’s route to the champions’ spin attack began on the other side of the league. He was a squad member with Janakpur Bolts in the inaugural 2024 season, then joined Lumbini for the 2025 title-winning campaign and never looked back. Retained in June 2026, no auction price is attached to his name — the Lions simply kept their banker.
He is also a one-cap Nepal T20 international, with one wicket at a best of one for 35. At Lumbini he bowls in tandem with the left-arm angle of Abhishesh Gautam through the middle overs, overs seven to 15, where the Lions strangled Sudurpaschim in the final. Around them, the spin depth (Gautam, Tilak Bhandari’s wrist-spin, Ajay Chauhan, Arniko Yadav and captain Rohit Paudel’s own offbreak) exists to support him, not replace him.
The defence runs through him
Today’s test is immediate: Lumbini face Chitwan Rhinos in Match 7 at 12:30 PM NST, the first game of Saturday’s double-header. Chitwan opened with an eight-run win over Biratnagar, defending 157, and their batting runs through Dawid Malan’s 70 off 50 balls in that match.
If the Lions are to defend their crown, the most likely route is the 2025 one: Malla’s four overs going for around 25 runs and taking two wickets, and the opposition never recovering. Match 1 showed the formula still works. Match 7 shows whether it holds against a side that has already defended a total this season.
A right-arm offbreak bowler for Lumbini Lions, born on 1 December 2002 in Dhangadi, who bats left-handed and was retained by the champions in June 2026.
He took 17 wickets in ten games at an average of 13.76 and an economy of 6.50, finishing as the league’s joint-highest wicket-taker and winning the Emerging Player award, with three decisive playoff spells.
He took three wickets for 11 runs against Sudurpaschim and won Player of the Match as Lumbini bowled the Royals out for 87 and won by seven wickets.
Lumbini face Chitwan in NPL Season 3 Match 7 on Saturday, 31 October 2026, at 12:30 PM NST at TU Ground, Kirtipur.
