The Wai Wai Everest Premier League twenty20 cricket tournament is scheduled for September 24-October 3 at the Tribhuvan University Stadium.

A total of six franchises will compete in the round robin league tournament, organised by Zohra Sports Management (ZSM), that will give away Rs 5.4 million to the participating players in match fees alone.

Each franchise, owned by corporate houses, will be led by the national team cricketers. While the captains of each team will get Rs 20,000 per match, national cricketers playing minimum 15 international matches will earn Rs 15,000.

Cricketers participating in the Under-19 World Cups will get Rs 12,000 and regional players will be provided with Rs 8,000 as match fees from their franchises. Each team will get to play minimum of five matches, while the top two finishers after the round robin league will clash for the championship.

National team skipper Paras Khadka will lead Vishal Warriors, owned by Vishal Group and his deputy Gyanendra Malla will be the captain of Colors X Factors, a franchise that belongs to Teletalk Pvt Ltd. Sharad Vesawkar leads Tez of Panchakanya Group, Basanta Regmi is the captain of Kantipur Gurkhas, which is owned by Kantipur Publications.

Shakti Gauchan will lead Shanker Group’s Jagdamba Rhinos and Binod Bhandari will skipper Ghorahi Cement’s Sagarmatha Legends. Event management company Zohra had previously came up with the concept of a multi-format Nepal Premier League (NPL) that included Twenty20, 50-over and two-day cricket before the tournament ran into controversy with Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) withdrawing its ownership of the event in 2014.

The franchises and players are the same that played the first format—50-over—of the NPL. Zohra was unable to host the Twenty20 and two-day cricket after Tez clinched the 50-over title. However, ZSM Managing Director Amir Akhtar said it would be a fresh start for Nepali cricket having being associated with CG Foods as title sponsors.

“EPL offers various purposes in players’ growth, earning decent match fees, promoting cricket to the next level and many more. I would like to thank the sponsors, players and all team owners of the team in materialising the concept,” said Akhtar.

CG Managing Director Nirvana Chaudhary was upbeat with the start of the tournament. “The objective of the EPL is to elevate cricketing standard in Nepal and the tournament is set to introduce young talents in the leadership of experienced national players. Wai Wai is committed to put all its support in harnessing the full potential of cricket in Nepal,” said Chaudhary.