Sudur Paschim Royals Team: Squad, Results, Stats & Schedule

Sudur Paschim Royals are a founding Nepal Premier League franchise representing Sudurpashchim Province. Swotantra Pratap Shah acquired the team through Empire Sports Management, with Prakash Khadka as chief executive and former Nepal national coach Jagat Tamata leading the cricket programme.

The Royals dominated the 2025 round robin with six consecutive wins before Biratnagar ended the unbeaten run in Match 26. Their 6–1 record, 12 points and +0.832 net run rate still secured first place and direct entry to Qualifier 1.

A 77-run Qualifier 1 victory over Biratnagar sent Sudur Paschim into a second successive final. Lumbini Lions then dismissed them for 85 and chased the target in nine overs, leaving the Royals runners-up again. Their complete 2025 record was seven wins and two losses.

Binod Bhandari led the team with 264 runs, including two fifties and a high score of 69. Aarif Sheikh made 186, captain Dipendra Singh Airee 162 and Ishan Pandey 160. Abinash Bohara's 17 wickets were the team and tournament high, ahead of Harmeet Singh's 12 and Scott Kuggeleijn's ten.

Harmeet supplied the strongest balanced contribution with 133 runs at a 166 strike rate and 12 wickets, while Airee combined 162 runs with nine wickets and best figures of 4/23. These are transparent team comparisons, not replacements for an official player award.

The franchise has reached the final in both NPL seasons. It also topped both league phases, going 7–2 overall in 2024 and 7–2 again in 2025; Janakpur Bolts won the first final and Lumbini Lions the second.

Season 3 recruitment is a separate, still-open layer. Dipendra Singh Airee leads seven retentions, while Sachin Bhatta, Ayub Chand, Anil Kharel, Dipak Bohara, Milan Bohara and Tek Rawat make six confirmed auction additions. Saif Zaib and Scott Kuggeleijn are included only because dated August reports document their returns; no other 2025 overseas player is carried forward.

The club's current player area says its content is being prepared, and its Season 2 player API returns an empty list. Dated reporting still establishes seven retentions, six auction additions, Saif Zaib's 10 August return and Scott Kuggeleijn's 17 August return.

An empty website tab does not cancel dated player announcements. The 15-player count therefore records the confirmed names while leaving every unannounced domestic or overseas place open.

No. CAN increased the domestic quota to 14: the auction and wish-list process took every team to 13, with one further player intended to come through each franchise's talent hunt. Overseas recruitment sits outside this domestic count.

The 15 names comprise 13 confirmed domestic players and two separately announced overseas returnees. It would be misleading to label this the final match squad or fill remaining places with last season's other overseas names.

No. The Royals finished first in both league stages and reached both finals, but league position provided playoff passage rather than the title. Janakpur chased 185 in the 2024 final; Lumbini chased 86 in the 2025 final.

The contrast is useful: Sudur Paschim lost once after setting a strong 184/9 and once after collapsing to 85. Identical runners-up labels can hide very different final-day failures.

No. Abinash finished with 17 wickets, but the final tournament record was a three-way tie with Sandeep Lamichhane and Sher Malla. He was Sudur Paschim's clear team leader, not the competition's sole leader.

The distinction matters because a team ranking and a tournament ranking answer different questions. His final wicket took him from 16 into the shared lead.

No. The Royals are a privately operated NPL franchise representing the province; Sudurpashchim Province is a separate domestic representative side whose PM Cup results do not belong here.

Representation also does not prove a provincial home fixture. Every Royals match in the first two NPL seasons was centrally staged at TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur.