The first of its kind in Nepal, NPL include not just the Twenty20 tournament but also the 50-over and two-day events. All three formats will be played under the round-robin league by six teams, all supported by corporate houses.

According to the Managing Director of Zohra Sports Management Amir Akhtar, the tournament will kick off with the two-day format in Dhangadi followed by the 50-over event in Biratnagar and Rajbiraj before concluding with the Twenty20 tournament in Kathmandu in May.

The six corporate teams include Kantipur Gurkhas of The Kantipur Publications, Vishal Group Warriors of Vishal Group, Tej of Panchakanya Group, Colors X Factors of Teletalk Pvt Ltd, Jagdamba Giants of Shanker Groups and Sagarmatha Legends of Ghorahi Cement. Basanta Regmi will skipper the Kantipur Gurkhas, Paras Khadka will lead the Vishal Group Warriors, Sharad Vesawkar will captain Tej and Gyanendra Mall will lead the Colors X Factor. Shakti Gauchan will captain the Jagdamba Giants and Binod Bhandari will lead the Sagarmatha Legends.

Each team will have a 16-member squad including current national, Under-19, regional and two overseas cricketers as well as domestic coaches. Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake, who selected all six teams, said the tournament would go a long way in filling the void of the domestic tournament.

“The Ncell NPL is a good thing for the development of cricket in Nepal as it will provide players with the much needed domestic exposure,” said Dassanayake. Match fees per match for the captain has been fixed at Rs 5,000 while players in the senior national team will earn Rs 2,5000 and the U-19 and regional players will get Rs 1,000 each per match. The 50-over and T20 champion will get Rs 200,000 each while the winners will get Rs 1,50,000.

Corporate Communi-cation Director of Ncell Sanju Koirala said the tournament would help groom the domestic players. “Cricket has been able to unite the country celebrating in successes and mourning in defeats. We just want the Nepali cricket to grow,” said Koirala. NCell sponsorship for the tournaments is initially for two years.

CAN President Tanka Aangbuhang said: “We had the challenge to restructure our domestic cricket and Ncell NPL has happened to solve our worries to a great extent. On behalf of CAN I would like to thank Ncell and all the stakeholders for promoting this event.”