Bipin Khatri — Wickets and Pokhara Avengers

Never out, five wickets — the quietest big season at Pokhara

Bipin Khatri has taken five wickets in NPL Season 3, joint-most for Pokhara Avengers alongside Mahedi Hasan. He has also batted four times and has never been dismissed.

All-rounder. Retained through the June 2026 retention window. Captain: Kushal Bhurtel. Head coach: Ajantha Mendis.

Khatri’s story is the retention itself. The verified record does not specify his playing role, so the evidence is the decision: he held his place while the franchise changed head coach and added Shakib Al Hasan and Dhananjaya Lakshan as overseas headliners. Retention through continuity is one thing; retention through upheaval is a louder verdict. He brings home-ground familiarity that matters in a single-venue tournament at Kirtipur’s TU Ground — he knows the routines and the surface, and the new signings took weeks to learn what he carries in.

His season has been the quietest productive one in the side. Five wickets in five matches, with wickets in each of the last three games, and 28 runs in four innings without once being dismissed. Nobody talks about Khatri first when Pokhara are discussed — the names are Bhurtel, Shakib and Samra — but the numbers say he has been one of the two most reliable players in the side.

Season 3 in numbers

All figures cover matches through Match 21, played on Tuesday 10 November 2026. Pokhara Avengers have played five matches; they did not play Match 21.

Numbers from the NPL season file, updated 10 November 2026, covering matches through Match 21. Strike rate is runs per 100 balls; economy is runs per over.

Match by match

Every innings and every spell, newest first. An asterisk means not out.

What the numbers mean

The batting record is a curiosity: 5 not out off 7 balls against Sudurpaschim Royals, 17 not out off 14 against Janakpur Bolts, 6 not out off 7 against Lumbini Lions and 0 not out off 0 balls against Chitwan Rhinos. Four innings, four not outs, 28 runs — so he has no batting average at all, which is the statistical signature of a finisher who keeps arriving too late to be dismissed. The 17 not out against Janakpur was his best, and it came in a game Pokhara lost by nine runs.

The bowling is the real story: 0 for 22, 0 for 18, 1 for 20, 2 for 22 and 2 for 39 — wickets in the last three games, and an economy of 8.96 that is honest rather than tight. His best figures, 2 for 22 against Chitwan Rhinos, came in a defeat; his 2 for 39 against Karnali Yaks came in the only win. Five wickets at 24.20 apiece is joint-best in the side, and he has bowled in every match Pokhara have played.

Where Pokhara Avengers stand

Khatri’s five wickets and four unbeaten innings make him one of the few Pokhara players carrying form into the run-in.

The maths is brutal but simple. Pokhara sit eighth on two points from five matches, three behind Chitwan Rhinos in the last playoff place, with a net run rate of minus 0.707. Win the two remaining matches — Biratnagar Kings on Thursday 12 November and Kathmandu Gorkhas on Sunday 15 November — and they reach six points, still needing Chitwan Rhinos to lose both of theirs and net run rate to cooperate. Any other result ends the season. Full list: NPL Schedule.