Lokesh Bam’s 87: Biratnagar Keeper Lights Up a Losing Cause

Some innings deserve a win and do not get one. Lokesh Bam hit 87 off 52 balls for Biratnagar Kings against Karnali Yaks in NPL Season 3 Match 6, with three fours and nine sixes, the highest individual score of the season so far, and still walked off on the losing side, as Karnali chased 187 with one ball left. For a wicketkeeper-batter who has kept for Biratnagar since the league began, it was the fullest expression of his game: powerplay aggression, top-order responsibility, and a total his bowlers could not quite defend.

87 in a losing cause

Biratnagar’s 186 for 7 was built on Bam’s innings and one partnership. He hit 87 off 52 balls with three fours and nine sixes, sharing a 71-run fourth-wicket stand with Angelo Mathews, who made 31 off 23 balls. At the halfway stage of the chase, the total looked enough.

Karnali’s chase fell apart at 57 for 5, then rebuilt through an unbroken 64-run seventh-wicket stand between Gulshan Jha, unbeaten on 28 off 21 balls, and captain Sompal Kami, unbeaten on 62 off 32 balls. Eight runs were needed off the final over, bowled by Sandeep Lamichhane, and a dropped catch plus an extra run off a fielding mistake left two needed off two balls — finished with two runs, then two more, to win with one ball left. Bam’s 87 stands as the highest individual score after six matches, ahead of Malan’s 70, Sompal’s 62 and Moeen’s unbeaten 58.

The keeper who bats in the top three

Bam’s structural value to Biratnagar is his double role. He is the side’s first-choice keeper and a top-three batting option, and he has kept to Sandeep Lamichhane’s leg-break for two full NPL seasons — no small assignment, given the turn and variation. Ten catches in T20 internationals back up the glovework.

A keeper who bats in the top three lets the Kings field their deep all-rounder stocks (Rupesh Singh, Narayan Joshi, Shubham Ranjane) without carrying a specialist keeper who cannot bat. His batting style is pure powerplay aggression: clean striking through the line from the top of the order, with a T20 international strike rate in the 150s range marking him as an aggressor rather than an accumulator.

From Doti to Wankhede

Born on 13 August 2000 in Doti District, Bam made his T20 international debut for Nepal against the United Arab Emirates on 12 February 2022 and has since earned 23 caps. His world-stage announcement came at the 2026 T20 World Cup, with an unbeaten 39 from 20 balls against England in the opening match at Wankhede Stadium. A century against Ireland Wolves in wider T20 cricket sits alongside it on his record.

In the NPL, 24 matches have brought 383 runs, with a high score of 72 in the 2025 season — his best league campaign. Retained on 16 June 2026 as part of Biratnagar’s six-player core, he remains one of the few genuinely locked-in names in the Kings’ XI, a senior Nepali voice in the leadership group around captain Sandeep.

A winless start, and what comes next

Biratnagar’s season has been close twice and rewarding never: an eight-run loss to Chitwan in Match 2, then the one-ball defeat to Karnali in Match 6. Tonight brings the next chance, against Sudurpaschim Royals in Match 8 at 5:00 PM NST, the second game of Saturday’s double-header.

Behind Bam, the franchise is planning his succession rather than his replacement: the squad’s three-keeper structure has five-lakh buy Dilsad Ali and two-lakh buy Prajwal Thapa behind him. Season 3 is about converting his 2025 league-best form into a full campaign of substance — and after 87 off 52 balls, the form itself is no longer in doubt.