After its logo unveiling on Monday, the captains of the teams competing in Ncell Nepal Premier League (NPL) have been revealed. Zohra Sports Management (ZSM) is bringing the much-awaited cricket tournament which the organisers claim to establish a solid base of the domestic cricket in the country.
As reported by CricketingNepal, the NPL will be played in three formats – Twenty20, 50-over and two-day – with teams from corporate franchises involved in the tournament that is expected to offer glitzy colours.
The NPL will have six franchises led by national team stars. Tej, owned by Panchakanya Group and captained by Sharad Veswakar, Colors X Factors, owned by Teletalk Pvt Ltd and skippered by Gyanendra Malla, Vishal Group Warriors, owned by Visha Group and skipper by national team captain Paras Khadka, Kantipur Gurkhas, owned by Kantipur Publications with Basanta Regmi as skipper, Jagdamba Giants, owned by Shanker Group and captained by Shakti Gauchan and Sagarmatha Legends, owned by Ghorahi Cement and led by Binod Bhandari are the six franchises involved in the NPL.
The website further states that every team will have 16 players with a mix of national, U-19 and regional cricketers with each team allowed to involve two foreign-based players. The captain of each team will get Rs 5,000 as match fees, while Star Cricketers (who have/had been in the national team) will get Rs 2500 and regional or U-19 cricketers will get Rs 1000.
“There are few reasons which we would like to outline for the launching of the NPL. It will enhance the base of Nepali cricket domestically apart from enabling Nepali cricketers to gain much needed technical know by playing with international/overseas players,” said Amir Akhtar Managing Director of the ZSM.
The two-day tournament will be held in Dhangadhi in mid-April which Akhtar claimed is a decentralization of the sport which was much-needed. The 50-overs tournament will be held in Biratnagar and Rajbiraj with the Twenty20 tournament set for May in Kathmandu.
Captains of NPL Franchise
1 Tej– Panchakanya Group (Captain: Sharad Vesawkar)
2 Colors X Factors – Teletalk Pvt Ltd (Captain: Gyanendra Malla)
3 Vishal Group Warriors – Vishal Group (Captain: Paras Khadka)
4 Kantipur Gurkhas – Kantipur Publications (Captain: Basanta Regmi)
5 Jagdamba Giants – Shanker Group (Captain: Shakti Gauchan)
6 Sagarmatha Legends – Ghorahi Cement (Captain: Binod Bhandari)
