Janakpur Bolts
Nepal Premier League cricket franchise that won the tournament's inaugural title in December 2024, finished last in the 2025 season, and in 2026 acquired a second franchise, JB Bruges, in Belgium's EU T20 League.
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- Established
- 2024
- Location
- Janakpur, Nepal
- Country
- Nepal
- Competition
- Nepal Premier League (NPL), Nepal's franchise Twenty20 cricket league
- Owner
- Dream Sports at launch in 2024 (team owner reported as Amit Shrestha); Utsav Sigdel reported as team owner by 2026
- General manager
- Niraj Khatiwada
- Head coach
- Pubudu Dassanayake (2024, title-winning season); Shivnarine Chanderpaul (from 2025)
- Marquee player
- Aasif Sheikh (2024 season; released ahead of the third season)
- Titles
- 2024 Nepal Premier League champions (inaugural season)
Overview
Janakpur Bolts is a Twenty20 cricket franchise based in Janakpur, Nepal, competing in the Nepal Premier League (NPL). The team won the league’s inaugural championship in December 2024, then finished last in the 2025 season with a single win, and in 2026 expanded beyond Nepal by acquiring a second franchise, JB Bruges, in Belgium’s EU T20 League (The Kathmandu Post). The ownership picture shifted across that arc: the franchise was introduced in 2024 under Dream Sports ownership with Amit Shrestha named as team owner (The Kathmandu Post), while the March 2026 announcement of the Belgium acquisition named Utsav Sigdel as team owner — a transition the reporting does not explain (The Kathmandu Post).
Founding and the 2024 franchise auction
The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) sold the eight NPL franchises through a bidding process for a combined Rs168 million in September 2024 (The Kathmandu Post); an international account later put the combined figure at under Rs169 million (about $1.23 million), with the champions’ prize money at around $81,000 (Rediff).
At the October 2024 owner-reveal ceremony, Janakpur Bolts was presented with ownership listed as Dream Sports, team owner Amit Shrestha, and general manager Niraj Khatiwada. Khatiwada said the franchise would “continue the legacy of Lumbini All Stars” from the earlier Nepal T20 League while taking “Nepali cricket to a new height through collaboration with CAN” (The Kathmandu Post). Wicketkeeper-batter Aasif Sheikh was named the franchise’s marquee player (The Kathmandu Post), and former Sri Lanka international Pubudu Dassanayake took charge as head coach — the coach who would deliver the title (Online Khabar).
The inaugural NPL ran from November 30 to December 21, 2024, with Star Sports Network as broadcast partner and Siddhartha Bank as title sponsor in what was described as the largest sponsorship agreement in Nepali sports history (The Kathmandu Post). CAN positioned the league as a clean break from its earlier Nepal T20 League venture of the 2022/23 season, which had collapsed under spot-fixing allegations, a Central Investigation Bureau investigation, and arrests (The Kathmandu Post).
Inaugural NPL title
On December 21, 2024, Janakpur Bolts won the first Nepal Premier League title, defeating Sudurpaschim Royals by five wickets in the final at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. The Royals batted first and scored 184/9 — Saif Zaib hit 69 off 43 balls and Binod Bhandari 41 off 31 — while Kishore Mahato and Mohammad Mohsin took three wickets each for the Bolts. In reply, Lahiru Milantha’s 87 off 49 balls and captain Aasif Sheikh’s 33 off 19 led the chase, which the Bolts completed in 19.2 overs with Harsh Thaker unbeaten on 30 (LatestLY).
Failed title defense in 2025
For the second NPL season, Janakpur did not continue with Dassanayake — he moved to coach Biratnagar Kings while also coaching the United States national team — and appointed former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul as head coach (Online Khabar). Chanderpaul, an ICC Hall of Famer who represented the West Indies in 164 Tests and 268 ODIs, landed in Kathmandu on November 10, 2025 to take charge; at his press conference he said he had watched Nepal’s series win over the West Indies that September, calling it a sign of “much promise in cricket” for the country (The Kathmandu Post). The defense failed anyway: Janakpur finished bottom of the table in the second season, managing just one win (The Kathmandu Post).
Expansion to Belgium and the season-3 rebuild
On March 5, 2026, Utsav Sigdel — identified in the report as team owner — announced that Janakpur Bolts had acquired JB Bruges, a franchise in Belgium’s upcoming EU T20 League, with an estimated investment of around USD 1 million for the first season. Sigdel said the franchise was secured to prioritize Nepali cricketers and create international exposure for them, and that Chanderpaul would serve as head coach of the Belgian side (The Kathmandu Post). The EU T20 League, organized by Destino Legends Sports with the Belgian Cricket Federation, named England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan as brand ambassador and required each 16-player squad to include four Belgian players, with at least one in every playing XI (The Kathmandu Post).
Back home, the Bolts began rebuilding for the NPL’s third season. The franchise released marquee player Aasif Sheikh — the national-team opener was placed in Category A for the auction — and entered the auction with the largest purse of the eight teams at Rs 6.62 million; CAN set aside an October–November 2026 window for the third season in its domestic calendar (HimalPress).
What this profile does not claim
This profile traces the franchise from its 2024 launch through the 2026 Belgium expansion as reported by the independent outlets read in full here. It does not explain the ownership transition from Dream Sports/Amit Shrestha (2024) to Utsav Sigdel (2026), because the sources do not; it does not verify whether the EU T20 League’s June 2026 edition took place as scheduled, since the cited report is the March 2026 announcement; and it does not cover the third NPL season’s squad or results, which were still ahead at the time of the latest verified reporting used here.
Timeline
- 2024
- CAN sells the eight NPL franchises through a bidding process for a combined Rs168 million; Janakpur Bolts is launched under Dream Sports ownership, with Amit Shrestha named team owner and Niraj Khatiwada as general manager, continuing the legacy of the same group's Lumbini All Stars from the Nepal T20 League.
- 2024-12-21
- Wins the inaugural Nepal Premier League final at Kirtipur, defeating Sudurpaschim Royals by five wickets and chasing 185 in 19.2 overs behind Lahiru Milantha's 49-ball 87.
- 2025
- Shivnarine Chanderpaul replaces title-winning coach Pubudu Dassanayake for the second NPL season; the Bolts finish bottom of the table with a single win.
- 2026-03-05
- Team owner Utsav Sigdel announces that Janakpur Bolts has acquired JB Bruges in Belgium's EU T20 League, with an estimated first-season investment of around USD 1 million.
- 2026
- Ahead of the NPL's third season, Janakpur releases marquee player Aasif Sheikh and enters the player auction with the largest purse of the eight franchises at Rs 6.62 million.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Ownership: 2024 reporting names Dream Sports with Amit Shrestha as team owner; March 2026 reporting names Utsav Sigdel as team owner. The sources do not explain the transition.
- The EU T20 League acquisition is covered here as announced on March 5, 2026; the profile does not verify whether the June 2026 tournament took place as scheduled.
- Reports in August 2026 named USA all-rounder Harmeet Singh as Janakpur's captain for the third NPL season; the full reports could not be re-verified for this rewrite.
- One outlet reported the franchise's own purchase price as NPR 2.05 crore; no independent source confirmed it, so the figure is not used.
Sources
8 sources (4 tier 1, 4 tier 2), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
Eight sources were fetched and read in full: six from Nepal's national press (The Kathmandu Post, OnlineKhabar, HimalPress) and two international news outlets (Rediff, LatestLY). The Kathmandu Post is Nepal's leading English-language daily; Rediff is an established Indian news outlet; LatestLY is an independent news outlet whose report embeds the league's official match feed. None is affiliated with the franchise or the league.
- Supports: The franchise's Dream Sports ownership, team owner Amit Shrestha, general manager Niraj Khatiwada's on-record statement, the continuation of the Lumbini All Stars legacy, marquee player Aasif Sheikh, and the Rs168 million combined franchise sale. Open original source
- Supports: The inaugural season's dates, Star Sports broadcast deal, Siddhartha Bank title sponsorship, and the Nepal T20 League's spot-fixing collapse that preceded the NPL. Open original source
- Supports: Chanderpaul's arrival in Kathmandu, his 164 Tests and 268 ODIs, his ICC Hall of Fame status, and his on-record remarks about Nepal's September 2025 series win over the West Indies. Open original source
- Supports: The JB Bruges acquisition, team owner Utsav Sigdel, the estimated USD 1 million investment, the EU T20 League's format and backers, and Janakpur's bottom-of-the-table finish with one win in the 2025 season. Open original source
- Supports: The December 21, 2024 final's score, key performers, and result. Open original source
- Supports: The combined franchise price of under Rs169 million (about $1.23 million) and the champions' prize money of around $81,000. Open original source
- Supports: Shivnarine Chanderpaul replacing title-winning coach Pubudu Dassanayake for the 2025 season, and Dassanayake's move to Biratnagar Kings and the United States national team. Open original source
- Supports: Janakpur's release of Aasif Sheikh ahead of the third NPL season, the franchise's league-leading auction purse of Rs 6.62 million, and CAN's October-November 2026 window for the season. Open original source
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