Dhangadi Cricket Academy (DCA) on Thursday opened players’ registration for the Dhangadi Premier League (DPL) 2, country’s first ever auctioned Twenty20 cricket tournament which is now also the highest-cash prized cricketing event.

National team vice-captain Gyanendra Malla registered himself as the first player for the second edition of the tournament which will be held at the SP Grounds in Dhangadi from March 31. The champions will get Rs 2.5 million. Each team has been made mandatory to include two foreign recruit and one local player from the city.

The tournament was originally scheduled for January 19 start but had to be pushed back considering national team’s calendar. Nepali cricket team is participating in February’s ICC World Cricket League Division 2. The tournament can get pushed further if national team get a new schedule in international calendar. “The national cricket team comes first than our tournament. If the tournament coincides once again with any other international tournament, we will give the priority to the team and wait for another date,” said Subash Shahi, the DCA president.

DCA on Thursday also signed an agreement with the online payment company eSewa as the ticketing partner. eSewa will also assist DCA in the registration of players for the auction which has been set for February 8. Before the auction, the organisers will announce the six city-based franchise teams and one ‘strategic’ player.

The ‘strategic’ player is similar to a marquee player who will not be auctioned but don’t necessarily be the captain of a team. According to DCA, the teams participating in the first edition will be given priority for the second edition. CYC Attariya, Team Chauraha Dhangadi, Kanch-anpur Iconics, Kathmandu Goldens, Biratnagar Kings and Rupandehi Challengers took part in the first edition.

Paras Khadka-led Chauraha had won the inaugural edition of the DPL defeating Sharad Vesawkar’s Biratnagar Kings in the final. The players will be auctioned in three categories—‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. The ‘A’ category includes national cricketers who have experience of at least 15 international matches and have represented senior Nepali team for three years. Non-national team, age group and national team camp players are kept in ‘B’ category, while uncapped players fall in ‘C’.

The tournament carries an estimate budget of Rs 30 million out of which at least Rs 5 million will be distributed in cash purse. The runners-up will get Rs 1 million, while the third and fourth placed finishers will take home Rs 300,000 and Rs 200,000 respectively. The man-of-the-series will get TVS Apache 180cc motorcycle.

On the sidelines of the tournament, DCA will also give Rs 100,000 cash purse as Dhangadhi Cricket Honour to one player participating in the national and international tournaments and Arjun Khadka Memorial Honour to one individual who have contributed in the development of Nepali cricket.

“Coming this far, DPL has taught us that nothing is impossible,” said Shahi who began with SPA Cup, an inter-college national cricket tournament in Dhangadi giving away a cash purse of Rs 25,000 to the champions and carried a total budget of Rs 400,000. “We came up as the first tournament organisers to hold auction of the cricketers and it remains a huge success. We want to make impact and motivate other organisations in which we have been successful. We want to make sure that if more helping hands come in, we will take Nepali cricket to another level,” added Shahi.