{"id":35531,"date":"2025-11-17T08:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T02:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=35531"},"modified":"2025-11-17T08:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T02:46:12","slug":"nepal-premier-league-kicks-off-today-eight-franchises-ready-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/nepal-premier-league-kicks-off-today-eight-franchises-ready-for-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal Premier League kicks off today, Eight franchises ready for action"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kathmandu, November 17:<\/strong>\u00a0The second edition of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) officially kicks off today, featuring eight franchise teams. This year\u2019s league is expected to introduce several exciting new elements for Nepali cricket fans.<\/p>\n

For the first time in Nepal\u2019s cricket history, matches will be played under floodlights on home soil. A new 10,000-seat parapet has also been constructed for spectators. On Sunday evening, the government officially handed over the upgraded TU Cricket Ground to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) through the National Sports Council.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Urban Development completed the first phase of the stadium project, which included installing six floodlights and building a 10,000-capacity parapet. According to the schedule published by CAN, 23 out of the 32 matches will be played under lights, giving fans a new viewing experience.<\/p>\n

However, night matches may pose additional security challenges as day games at TU already attract massive crowds. The excitement is already visible, tickets for the opening match were sold out within 24 hours of release. CAN expects a heavy turnout throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n

CAN will sell 9,450 tickets per match day. For the opening day, ticket prices have been set at Rs. 500 for general entry and Rs. 1,500 for premium seats. For league matches on other days, general tickets will cost Rs. 500 and premium tickets Rs. 1,000.<\/p>\n

For the playoffs, the prices will be Rs. 1,000 (general) and Rs. 2,000 (premium). A season pass will cost Rs. 15,000.<\/p>\n

The winning team will receive Rs. 1 crore 10 lakh, while the runner-up will be awarded Rs. 51 lakh, the third-place team Rs. 25 lakh, and the fourth-place team Rs. 15 lakh. Last season, Janakpur Bolts lifted the title by defeating Sudurpashchim Royals.<\/p>\n

The Eight Franchise Teams<\/h3>\n

1. Kathmandu Gorkhas<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Karan KC
\nSquad: Bhim Sharki, Rashid Khan, Pratik Shrestha, Dipesh Kandel, Mohammad Aadil Alam, Shahab Alam, Tul Bahadur Thapa, Uttam Thapa Magar, Santosh Yadav, Aakash Tripathi, Sonu Devkota
\nForeign Players: Ricardo Vasconcelos, Gerhard Erasmus, John Andrew Simpson, Sunny Patel, Ben Charlesworth, Milind Kumar
\nHead Coach: Monty Desai<\/p>\n

2. Janakpur Bolts<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Aasif Sheikh
\nSquad: Anil Kumar Sah, Lalit Rajbanshi, Tul Bahadur Thapa Magar, Bikash Aagri, Shubh Kansakar, Sachin Bhatt, Rupesh Kumar Singh, Kishor Mahato, Mayan Yadav, Aditya Mahata, Pappu Yadav
\nForeign Players: Lahiru Milantha, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Lahiru Samarakoon, Wayne Parnell, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Sangeeth Kore, Imran Tahir
\nHead Coach: Shivnarine Chanderpaul<\/p>\n

3. Chitwan Rhinos<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Kushal Malla
\nSquad: Rijan Dhakal, Bipin Rawal, Dipak Bohora, Amar Singh Routela, Ranjit Kumar, Gautam KC, Kamal Singh Airee, Dev Khanal, Arjun Saud, Bipin Acharya, Saugat Dhakal
\nForeign Players: Ravi Bopara, Sohail Tanvir, Saif Zaib, David Malan, Alpesh Ramjani
\nHead Coach: Kalam Ali<\/p>\n

4. Biratnagar Kings<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Sandeep Lamichhane
\nSquad: Pratis GC, Lokesh Bam, Basir Ahmed, Naren Bhatt, Subash Bhandari, Narayan Joshi, Surya Tamang, Sahil Patel, Shankar Rana, Shrawan Kisku, Ayush Neupane
\nForeign Players: George Munsey, Martin Guptill, Shubham Subh’s Ranjane, Marchant de Lange, Faf du Plessis, Samuel Dale Hazlett<\/p>\n

5. Sudurpashchim Royals<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player (Captain): Dipendra Singh Airee
\nSquad: Vinod Bhandari, Avinash Bohara, Dipak Bohora, Milan Bohora, Hemanta Dhami, Isham Pandey, Tek Rawat, Naren Saud, Dipendra Thapa, Arif Sheikh, Hikmat Mahara
\nForeign Players: Scott Kuggeleijn, Chris Lynn, Harmit Singh, Josh Brown
\nHead Coach: Jagat Tamata<\/p>\n

6. Pokhara Avengers<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Kushal Bhurtel
\nSquad: Aakash Chand, Sandeep Kshetri, Trit Raj Das, Sagar Dhakal, Bipin Khatri, Dinesh Kharel, Arjun Kumal, Krishna Paudel, Abhishek Tiwari, Kiran Thagunna, Rohit Chand
\nForeign Players: Adam Rossington, Raymon Reifer, Dan Douthwaite, Jimmy Neesham, Jason Roy
\nHead Coach: Rajiv Kumar<\/p>\n

7. Karnali Yaks<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Sompal Kami
\nSquad: Nandan Yadav, Gulshan Jha, Arjun Gharti, Pawan Sarraf, Bipin Sharma, Dipak Dumre, Yuvraj Khatri, Dipendra Rawat, Imran Sheikh
\nForeign Players: Max O\u2019Dowd, Mark Watt, Will Bosisto, Priyank Panchal, Najibullah Zadran, Jaykishan Kolsawala
\nHead Coach: Gyanendra Mallla<\/p>\n

8. Lumbini Lions<\/h3>\n

Marquee Player: Rohit Paudel
\nSquad: Sandeep Jora, Sher Malla, Dilip Nath, Sumit Maharjan, Dinesh Adhikari, Tilak Bhandari, Durgesh Gupta, Abhishek Gautam, Aadil Khan, Bishal Patel, Samir Ali
\nForeign Players: Thomas Drakes, D\u2019Arcy Short, Gulbadin Naib, Ruben Trumpelmann, JJ Smit
\nHead Coach: Tinu Yohannan<\/p>\n

Opening Match: Janakpur Bolts vs Kathmandu Gorkhas<\/h3>\n

The opening match will see defending champions Janakpur Bolts take on Kathmandu Gorkhas today at TU Cricket Ground from 4 PM.<\/p>\n

Janakpur will begin their campaign aiming to defend their championship title, while Kathmandu hopes to start strong and chase their first-ever NPL trophy. In last season\u2019s meeting, Janakpur defeated Kathmandu by five wickets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu, November 17:\u00a0The second edition of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) officially kicks off today, featuring eight franchise teams. This year\u2019s league is expected to introduce several exciting new elements for Nepali cricket fans. For the first time in Nepal\u2019s cricket history, matches will be played under floodlights on home soil. A new 10,000-seat parapet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-35531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-main-news","tag-nepal-premier-leauge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35533,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35531\/revisions\/35533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}