Nepal Premier League

No franchise in the Nepal Premier League has endured what the Sudurpaschim Royals have. They have reached both of the league’s finals — and lost both. The second defeat, on December 13, 2025, was a collapse for the record books: batting first in the final at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, the Royals were bundled out for just 85 runs in 19.1 overs — the first time any side failed to cross 100 in NPL history and the lowest first-innings total the league has seen. (myRepublica) Lumbini Lions captain Rohit Kumar Paudel took a hat-trick to lead the rout, and Dinesh Adhikari struck four sixes in the opening over of a chase completed in just nine overs, sealing a six-wicket win and Lumbini’s maiden title. (myRepublica) The year before, the same Royals had lost the inaugural final to Janakpur Bolts by five wickets. (The Himalayan Times) That two-finals pattern — one franchise always the bridesmaid — is the story the league’s first two seasons wrote, and it is the angle no league-level summary leads with.

A league built on a clean break

The NPL is the Cricket Association of Nepal’s “flagship event,” in the words of association secretary and former national captain Paras Khadka, who said CAN’s grand objective was to develop it into “a premier event of the globe.” (The Kathmandu Post) The league exists because CAN’s previous franchise venture, the Nepal T20 League of the 2022/23 season, was a disaster: overshadowed by spot-fixing allegations, investigated by the Central Investigation Bureau, with several arrests — and CAN itself criticized for “mismanagement, negligence and incompetence.” (The Kathmandu Post) The tournament rights, sold for eight years to Seven3Sports without a competitive bidding process, had to be terminated. (The Kathmandu Post)

Determined not to repeat the debacle, CAN installed retired AIG Ishwor Babu Karki as Head of Integrity, overseeing anti-corruption, safeguarding, security and anti-doping for the league in coordination with ICC protocol — with CAN’s spokesperson promising the NPL would be “without any controversy.” (The Kathmandu Post) CAN sold the eight franchises through a September 2024 bidding process for a combined Rs168 million: Pokhara Avengers drew the highest bid at Rs35.7 million, Kathmandu went for Rs33.3 million, and Karnali Yaks went cheapest at Rs11.1 million. (The Kathmandu Post) Each team named a marquee national star — Rohit Paudel (Lumbini), Karan KC (Kathmandu), Sandeep Lamichhane (Biratnagar), Kushal Malla (Chitwan), Aasif Sheikh (Janakpur), Sompal Kami (Karnali), Kushal Bhurtel (Pokhara) and Dipendra Singh Airee (Sudurpaschim). (The Kathmandu Post) Star Sports Network came on as the official broadcast partner, giving a Nepali domestic tournament worldwide exposure for the first time, alongside a partnership with Twenty-first Century Media, the sports management company behind World Cups, Asia Cups and IPLs. (The Kathmandu Post) Siddhartha Bank signed on as title sponsor in what was hailed as the largest sponsorship agreement in Nepali sports history, though the exact figures were not disclosed. (The Kathmandu Post)

Season one: the Festival of Himalayas

Billed as the “Festival of Himalayas,” the inaugural season ran from November 30 to December 21, 2024, with all 32 matches at the TU ground in Kirtipur — not a full-fledged stadium, with most of the roughly 15,000 fans sitting on grass, the opening match a sellout and the crowd’s singing and dancing between overs going viral in other cricket-loving nations. (The Kathmandu Post) The economics, as reported after the season, were striking: 130,000 fans attended, gate money ran “well north of Rs40 million,” the franchises had gone for a combined Rs160.9 million, commercial rights went to BrandlogiQ for Rs59.2 million, YouTube viewership crossed 50 million — and CAN had actually paid Star Sports to broadcast the first edition rather than selling the rights. (The Kathmandu Post)

Each team could field up to six foreign players, with only four in the playing eleven, and the inaugural season drew genuine names: Shikhar Dhawan of India, James Neesham of New Zealand, Ravi Bopara of England, Sohail Tanvir of Pakistan, Scott Kuggeleijn of New Zealand and Chadwick Walton of the West Indies — all Test cricketers — plus Associate standouts like Lahiru Milantha (USA), Christopher Sole (Scotland), Gerhard Erasmus (Namibia), Michael Levitt (Netherlands) and Nicholas Kirton (Canada). (The Kathmandu Post) Legendary Brian Lara’s arrival, and his helicopter visit to the Everest base region, made global headlines. (The Kathmandu Post)

The final, on December 21, 2024, was a thriller. Batting first, Sudurpaschim Royals posted 184 for 9, riding on Saif Zaib’s 43-ball 69 and Binod Bhandari’s 31-ball 41, while Kishore Mahato and Mohammad Mohsin took three wickets each for Janakpur Bolts. (LatestLY) Janakpur chased it down in 19.2 overs, powered by Milantha’s 49-ball 87 and captain Aasif Sheikh’s 33 off 19, with Harsh Thaker unbeaten on 30 at the finish — five wickets in hand, four balls to spare. (LatestLY) The season had also produced the tournament’s first Super Over, with Pokhara Avengers beating Biratnagar Kings. (LatestLY)

Season two: from wooden spoon to champions

The second season brought a rebrand and a milestone. Kathmandu’s franchise, fifth in 2024, changed its name from Kathmandu Gurkhas to Kathmandu Gorkhas — “to better reflect our roots,” in the words of CEO Suraj Singh Thakuri, who said “Gurkhas” was “more aligned with British interpretations” of the term. (The Kathmandu Post) The new logo kept the crossed khukuris but added temples from the Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan Durbar Squares and the lions that guard those heritage sites — “not just about strength… about emotion, culture, and pride in the Valley we represent.” (The Kathmandu Post) The franchise appointed Monty Desai, the former Nepal national team head coach, as its new coach, with marquee player Karan KC as captain. (The Kathmandu Post) And season two introduced night matches under floodlights — “a historic milestone for Nepali cricket,” per Khadka. (The Kathmandu Post)

The August 9, 2025 mini-auction filled out the squads: 150 players shortlisted, 51 retained from season one, 32 bought at auction, with 16-player squads and a maximum of four overseas players picked outside the auction; category base prices ran NPR 10–15 lakh (A), 5–10 lakh (B) and 2–5 lakh (C). (Sportstar) Defending champions Janakpur, Karnali Yaks and Pokhara Avengers each retained seven players — full retention — while the other five teams retained six. (Sportstar)

What followed was the league’s great turnaround story. Lumbini Lions had finished bottom of the 2024 table with six defeats in seven matches; in 2025 they won their final three league matches to reach the playoffs, beat Kathmandu Gorkhas in the Eliminator and Biratnagar Kings in Qualifier 2, and then won six matches in a row — equaling the record Sudurpaschim themselves had set by opening the season with six straight wins. (myRepublica) Sudurpaschim’s only league-stage loss had come against Biratnagar Kings, whom they then beat in Qualifier 1 to reach the final. (myRepublica) The final, as described above, ended with the Royals’ 85 all out and a nine-over chase — the most one-sided final in the young league’s history.

What comes next

CAN has announced the third edition for October 26 to November 21, 2026, confirming the NPL’s slot as an annual end-of-year event and describing it as Nepal’s premier professional cricket competition, with eight franchises playing a round-robin league phase before the playoffs. (The Himalayan Times)

What this profile does not claim

• It does not state the exact start date of season two; only the December 13, 2025 final is confirmed by a fully-read source.
• It does not reconcile the franchise-sale totals: the Kathmandu Post reported Rs168 million in October 2024 and Rs160.9 million in its January 2025 retrospective. Both figures are given as reported, and the discrepancy is disclosed rather than smoothed over.
• It does not claim full season points tables or complete season-two league-stage standings; no fully-read source verified them.
• It does not treat season-three details (auction results, overseas signings) as established — only the announced dates are claimed.
• It does not repeat the self-interested brand-value figures floated by a Karnali Yaks co-owner in the press.
• myRepublica’s report spells the 2025 Eliminator opponent “Kathmandu Gorkhaz”; this profile uses the franchise’s established name, Kathmandu Gorkhas, per the Kathmandu Post’s rebrand coverage.