The Nepal T20 League was a Nepalese men's Twenty20 cricket league which was established by the Cricket Association of Nepal in 2022. The competition only ran in 2022–23 and was held between 24 December 2022 and 11 January 2023. The league was replaced by the Nepal Premier League from 2024. Lumbini All Stars were the only champions, defeating Biratnagar Super Kings by 24 runs in the final.
All matches were played at Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground at Kirtipur.
History In April 2022, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) signed a NPR 330 million agreement with Indian sports management company Seven3Sports for a period of eight years to hold a franchise Twenty20 tournament. On 18 May 2022, CAN announced that the first edition of the tournament would be held in September and October, and in July the league was authorized by the International Cricket Council. On 19 July, four franchises and their owners were announced. Two more franchises were announced on 8 September. The draft was held from 10 September 2022 to 11 September 2022.
On 15 September, the competition was postponed to December due to security concerns following the announcement of the 2022 Nepalese general election. Scheduled to begin on 11 December, it was postponed to later in the month after the Kathmandu Gurkhas franchise withdrew from the tournament. The team was replaced by a new Kathmandu franchise, the Kathmandu Knights. The league bagan on 24 December.
Teams TeamCityProvinceCaptainBiratnagar Super KingsBiratnagarKoshi ProvinceAndre McCarthyFar West UnitedDhangadiSudurpashchim Province Hashmatullah ShahidiJanakpur RoyalsJanakpurMadhesh Province Trevon GriffithKathmandu KnightsKathmanduBagmati Province Gyanendra MallaLumbini All StarsBhairahawaLumbini Province Dipendra Singh AireePokhara AvengersPokharaGandaki Province Upul Tharanga
Squads Biratnagar Super KingsFar West UnitedJanakpur RoyalsKathmandu KnightsLumbini All StarsPokhara AvengersAndre McCarthy (c) Hussain Talat Sikandar Raza Sanjeew Kumaraswamy Keon Joseph Gauranshu Sharma Raj Rocky Nannan Arjun Saud (wk) Rohit Paudel Bibek Yadav Shahab Alam Pradeep Airee Prithu Baskota Surya Tamang Rijan Dhakal Nandan Yadav Amar Singh Rautela Hashmatullah Shahidi (c) Milinda Siriwardana Noor Ahmad Umair Ali Binod Bhandari (wk) Karan KC Bhim Sharki Dev Khanal Rashid Khan Bhuvan Karki Harishankar Shah Durgesh Gupta Sher Malla Basant Karki Prakash Jaisi Hashim AnsariTrevon Griffith (c) Samiullah Shinwari Sharafuddin Ashraf Ashan Priyanjan Chadwick Walton Kesrick Williams Dilip Nath (wk) Sompal Kami Sandeep Jora Aadil Alam Lalit Rajbanshi Sushan Bhari Sagar Pun Pawan Sarraf Jitendra Mukhiya Rajesh Pulami Khadak BoharaGyanendra Malla (c) Azmatullah Omarzai Alex Blake Ryan Burl Virandeep Singh Lokesh Bam (wk) Basir Ahamad Kamal Singh Airee Abinash Bohara Anil Kharel Saurabh Khanal Sandeep Rajali Santosh Karki Sunam Gautam Gautam KCDipendra Airee (c) Pat Brown Shadley van Schalkwyk Lahiru Milantha Harry Tector Unmukt Chand Bipul Sharma Harmeet Singh Baddhan Anil Kumar Sah (wk) Kushal Bhurtel Gulsan Jha Sagar Dhakal Sunil Dhamala Kishore Mahato Ishan Pandey Akash Chand Yogendra Singh Karki Tilakraj BhandariUpul Tharanga (c) Asitha Fernando Ameer Hamza Abhimanyu Mithun Zahir Khan Aasif Sheikh (wk) Aarif Sheikh Sharad Vesawkar Kushal Malla Pratis GC Mousom Dhakal Siddhant Lohani Tul Bahadur Thapa Bishal Bikram KC Krishna Karki Bipin Khatri Sumit Maharjan
League stage
The top four teams qualified for the playoffs. Advanced to Qualifier 1. Advanced to Eliminator.
Matches
Playoff stage
Preliminary
Qualifier 1
Eliminator
Qualifier 2
Final
Statistics and awards +Most runsPlayerTeamRunsHashmatullah Shahidi Far West United400Hussain Talat Biratnagar Super Kings367Lahiru Milantha Lumbini All Stars349Rohit Paudel Biratnagar Super Kings348Chadwick Walton Janakpur Royals329 Source: ESPNCricinfo
+Most wicketsPlayerTeamWicketsAbinash Bohara Kathmandu Knights19Raj Rocky NannanBiratnagar Super Kings16Lalit Rajbanshi Janakpur Royals16Nandan Yadav Biratnagar Super Kings16Karan KC Far West United14 Source: ESPNCricinfo
End of season awards Award Name Team Prize Player of the tournament Hussain Talat Biratnagar Super Kings Best batsman Hashmatullah Shahidi Far Western United Best bowler Abinash Bohara Kathmandu Knights Emerging player Surya Tamang Biratnagar Super Kings Source: ESPNcricinfo
Controversies
Non-payments The match between Kathmandu Knights and Biratnagar Super Kings on 3 January was delayed by two hours after players refused to take the field due to not having been paid. Players were contracted to receive 40% of their payment before the start of the tournament and the remaining 60% during the tournament. Only Pokhara Avengers and Lumbini All Stars had been paid anything. The game resumed after CAN officials guaranteed payments.
Spot-fixing Kathmandu Knights captain Gyanendra Malla revealed on 4 January that one of his teammates had been approached for match-fixing. The incident was reported to the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit, following which a team was sent to Nepal to investigate the claims. The Central Investigation Bureau also formed specialized teams to invesitgate the incident. The investigation found evidence that Seven3Sports, the company organizing the event, were involved in the incident, with up to seven players potentially involved.
References
External links ESPNcricinfo – Nepal T20 League