Ranjeet Kumar — Chitwan Rhinos bowler, NPL 2026

Player details

Season 3 numbers

Bowling — Season 3

Note: the match scorecards list him as “Ranjit Kumar” — the same player, a spelling variant in the scorecard record.

Four wickets in four matches, at an economy of 7.58: 1 for 12 against Biratnagar in Match 2, 3 for 28 against the Royals in Match 11, 0 for 34 against Pokhara in Match 17, and 0 for 17 against Kathmandu in Match 20. He has bowled in every result game Chitwan have played — the only domestic bowler outside the strike pair to do so. Every Chitwan result is on the NPL Results page.

The 3 for 28 against the Royals was his best spell of the season, and it came in a losing cause: the Royals chased 130 with five wickets and 20 balls to spare. It is the kind of spell that says the bowler did his job while the game went the other way — and it is why the captain keeps coming back to him.

The steady valuation

The valuation tells the story in numbers: 3 lakh, then 2 lakh, then retention — bought, bought back, retained. In a squad coming off a two-win Season 2, every retained name is expected to justify the faith, and Kumar’s three-season survival says the franchise keeps finding a use for him. The defined job without fuss is itself the credential: reliability, three years running.

In a fifteen-player squad with only three overseas signings, the domestics who survive every rebuild are rarely passengers — they are the flexible pieces, the players who train at match intensity, cover multiple selection scenarios, and step into the XI without the combination needing surgery.

The Match 11 spell

Against the Royals on 2 November, Chitwan made 129 for 6 and watched it chased down with 20 balls to spare. Kumar’s 3 for 28 in four overs was the one part of the defence that worked — three wickets in a game where the rest of the attack managed two between them. It was the spell that kept a one-sided chase from becoming a rout.

Left-arm orthodox is the angle he brings: the ball turning away from right-hand batters, the dot-ball squeeze that builds pressure for the quicks at the other end. It is not a glamorous skill, but in a side whose strike bowlers do the headline work, it is the support act that makes the headlines possible.

Two games to decide it

Chitwan are fourth after Match 21, with five points from five games and a net run rate of +0.009. The full table is on the NPL Points Table, and the remaining fixtures are on the NPL Schedule. Two league games are left: Janakpur Bolts on Friday 13 November and Karnali Yaks on Sunday 15 November. Win both and the Rhinos reach nine points — enough to guarantee a playoff place.

For Kumar, the run-in is two more games to do the defined job without fuss — and a chance to turn a steady season into the one where the reliable man became the match-winner. Every Chitwan result is on the Nepal Premier League hub — follow it all on SialTV.