All five leading wicket-takers in the history of the Men’s PM Cup are spinners. Four of them are left-arm spinners and Dipendra Singh Airee is the only right-hander.

Meanwhile, only two bowlers—Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Shahab Alam, both of them slow left-arm orthodox bowlers—are in the race to become the first individual to reach 100 wickets in tournament history.

Rajbanshi and Alam have been playing in the PM Cup since the inaugural edition in 2017. Similarly, both have been playing for a departmental club since the start: Rajbanshi for the Nepal Police Club (NPC) and Alam for the Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC).

With two league-stage games in hand for both teams in the 2025 season, Rajbanshi is currently leading the lists for the seventh edition, and overall.

Rajbanshi, with two five-wicket and two six-wicket hauls this edition, has bagged an incredible 30 wickets in seven games.

Alam, meanwhile, has 20 wickets in seven games. He bagged his first fifer of the edition against Gandaki on Friday; he has two four-wicket hauls.

Karnali’s Dipendra Rawat is in between Rajbanshi and Alam in the leading wicket-taker’s list for 2025. Rawat also has 20 wickets in seven games with a slightly better economy than Alam.

Rajbanshi and Alam had picked an equal number of wickets—23—in the last edition. There is no one else in between Rajbanshi and Alam in the battle for a century of wickets.

Rajbanshi is in the lead with 97 wickets and Alam follows with 91 wickets. They have played 41 and 47 matches and bowled in 39 and 45 innings, respectively.

NPC’s Airee, who is third in the list of overall wicket-takers, has 66 from 38 innings. Likewise, APF’s Bhuvan Karki and Gandaki’s Bipin Khatri have 66 and 65 wickets under their belt, respectively.

If things remain unchanged in the points table by the end of the league stage, Rajbanshi and Alam have three more games remaining in total—enough time to either touch or cross the 100-wicket mark.

Alam’s TAC is facing Lumbini on March 23 while Rajbanshi’s NPC is playing Karnali on March 25. Both teams will play the final league-stage game on March 27 and are likely to meet in the final, on March 29, as the top two teams.

Leading scorers in 2025

Trit Raj Das debuted in the PM Cup this edition. A former national U-19 player, Das currently has the most runs in the tournament.

Playing for TAC, Das, with a century and a 50, has scored 302 runs in seven games. Das stayed not out at 112 against Koshi on March 15. Furthermore, Das currently has the best batting average in tournament history. Das averages 50.33 currently with a strike rate of 60.08.

The only other batter to score a century in this edition is Sudurpaschim’s Kiran Thagunna; he scored his maiden century (121 off 101) against Gandaki on March 10.

Meanwhile, Das is followed by Karnali’s Arjun Gharti in the list of leading run scorers in 2025. Gharti, who has three 50s in seven games, has 268 runs, two runs ahead of third-placed Prajjwol Thapa of Lumbini. The top three run scorers have not donned the senior national jersey.

But the fourth and fifth places have active national players: Airee and Kushal Bhurtel. Airee and Bhurtel have 258 and 254 runs, respectively, in seven games.

Bagmati wins

Only one game was played on Day 14 of the tournament on Saturday. Bagmati faced Koshi at the Lamahi-based Deukhuri International Cricket Stadium while the two other venues— Siddhartha and Extratech—had a rest day.

Batting first, Bagmati reached 240 before getting all out at 49.3 overs. The target was defendable as Koshi were not in good form.

Surya Tamang bagged a five-wicket haul for Bagmati to bundle Koshi out on a paltry score of 109 runs in 25.3 overs.

Match Day 15 will see Gandaki vs Madhesh, Lumbini vs APF and Sudurpaschim vs Koshi at Siddhartha, Extratech and Deukhuri, respectively.