Dipendra Singh Airee

Dipendra Singh Airee burst into the limelight after breaking the record for the fastest fifty in T20I cricket: nine balls against Mongolia in September 2023, and within seven months became only the third man to hit six sixes in an over in a T20I.

A middle-order power-hitter, a useful offspinner and a gun fielder, Airee quickly became one of Nepal's most important players in both ODI and T20I cricket. He was one of the rising stars of Nepal's post-Paras Khadka generation and made his senior team debut as a 17-year-old against Kenya in 2017, after playing in the 2016 U-19 World Cup.

Though Airee began his senior career exclusively as a batter - he bowled just once in his first 22 T20Is and similarly in just a handful of ODIs under Khadka's captaincy - his disciplined offspin became a staple of the team's strategy when Nepal's fixtures resumed following the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did Airee begin to regularly bowl a full quota of overs, he was indispensable enough as a wicket-taker to see him through patchy batting form.

However, his biggest asset might be his electric fielding. Whether stationed inside the ring in the powerplay or out on the boundary during the slog overs at the death, Airee is a magnet for the ball, pulling off sensational catches and spectacular run outs.

Airee is the first player from Nepal to reach 1000 T20I runs and is the only player from the country with a double of 1000-plus runs and 50-plus wickets in T20Is. While he's had greater impact in the T20 format, he is also one of the first five Nepal batters to breach the 1000-run mark in ODIs.