Pokhara vs Janakpur Head to Head: Level at 1-1

Pokhara against Janakpur has swung from one extreme to the other. Janakpur won the Season 1 meeting by seven wickets on their way to the title, Pokhara answered in Season 2 with a 25-run win built on a fifty from Sumeet Verma, and the head to head stands level at one win each. Janakpur sit fourth in Season 3, Pokhara eighth and winless, and their next meeting (Match 9 on Sunday 1 November) comes with both sides needing points for very different reasons.

One chase, one defence

Janakpur won the first meeting in their title season. On 5 December 2024, Pokhara batted first for 138 for 7, and Janakpur chased 143 for 3 in 17.1 overs to win by seven wickets, with Lahiru Milantha’s 45, Aasif Sheikh’s 33 and James Neesham’s 40 leading the chase. Janakpur’s third straight win took them to the top of the points table with six points, while Pokhara slumped to a second straight defeat after losing their opener to Chitwan.

Pokhara answered a year later with a defence. On 27 November 2025, Pokhara won the toss and batted first for 155 for 6, with Sumeet Verma’s unbeaten 50 off 29 balls (two fours and four sixes) earning him player of the match, alongside Dinesh Kharel’s 38 and Adam Rossington’s 24. Janakpur lost their way from the start, slipping to 37 for 5 inside seven overs, and managed only 130 in reply despite Wayne Parnell’s fifty, as Pokhara won by 25 runs.

Fourth against eighth in Season 3

Season 3 has the two sides at opposite ends of the table. Janakpur sit fourth after six matches, with one win and one loss, after Moeen Ali’s unbeaten 58 sealed their first win of the season over Kathmandu by eight wickets. Pokhara sit eighth, winless after one match, after losing to Sudurpaschim by six wickets despite Shakib Al Hasan’s only appearance of the season so far.

Harmeet Singh’s Janakpur lean on Moeen’s 77 runs and Rahul Yadav’s six wickets, the most by any bowler after six matches, while Kushal Bhurtel’s Pokhara lean on their captain’s own all-round show — 21 off 17 with the bat and the final over with the ball in the Sudurpaschim defeat. Moeen’s departure window (Match 12 or Match 14, depending on which report fans read) falls after the 1 November meeting, so Janakpur will have their star batter for this one.

Match 9 comes first

Pokhara against Janakpur is the first of the remaining head-to-head fixtures to be played. Match 9 on Sunday 1 November at TU Ground will break the one-win-each tie before any of the other late-season meetings, and the loser risks falling further behind the playoff race with only a handful of league matches left afterwards. Janakpur’s remaining league matches after Match 9 include Biratnagar on 3 November, while Pokhara face Lumbini on 3 November as well.

If Janakpur win, they will take a two-to-one lead and confirm that their Season 1 chase was no fluke. If Pokhara win, they will take the lead at two wins to one and record their first win of Season 3 at the same time. Either way, the fixture’s habit of swinging from chase to defence suggests another game decided by which side handles the first six overs better.