Nepal T20 League will start on December 23, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announces on Thursday. The league will start after the Kathmandu team got a new owner in the form of Nepal Sports Venture, a company based in Kathmandu. The new team will be called Kathmandu Knights.
The future of the league was thrown in doubt after Kantipur Media Group-owned Kathmandu Gurkhas withdrew from the tournament two weeks before it was due to start.
CAN, in a bid to find new owners, had said the league would be postponed from December 11, the date it was due to start. Now, with the new owners found, the league will start on December 23 and end on January 10, 2023.
Six teams will take part in the inaugural Nepal T20 League. The teams are Kathmandu Knights, Lumbini All Stars, Biratnagar Super Kings, Janakpur Royals, Pokhara Avengers, and Farwest United.
According to the secondly re-scheduled fixtures of Nepal T20 League 2022, the event will start from 23 December 2022 and will run till 10 January 2023, having 11 January 2023 as the reserve day if the final match of the event can not complete on the 10th January of 2023.
Meanwhile, Janakpur Royals, one of the six franchise teams in the Nepal Twenty20 League, have signed Chadwick Walton as their overseas player. The 37-year-old West Indies batsman and wicketkeeper was happy to join Janakpur Royals. He said,
“I am really excited to be a part of the Janakpur Royals franchise. I am eager to be in Nepal and I can’t wait to get acclimatized and play some exciting cricket.”
Walton has represented West Indies in all three formats of men’s international cricket. Despite his lackluster outings with the national team, the right-handed batsman has flourished in global leagues, representing more than eight teams worldwide.
Janakpur team owner Govind Khandelwal said he is very excited to have someone like Chadwick Walton with vast global experience joining the franchise.
“I am excited to announce the signing of Chadwick Walton as a foreign player for the Royals for the upcoming season. He has vast experience globally, having played in Pakistan Super League, Lanka Premier League, Caribbean Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League, etc. I am hopeful that the Nepalese players will learn from his experience.”
Along with Walton, four other foreign players are under contract with the Janakpur franchise. Coach Umesh Patwal’s side have also brought Adam Lyth, Trevon Abishai Griffth, Raj Rocky Nannan, and Subhashinge Priyanjan.
Walton’s Janakpur begin their Nepal T20 campaign against Pokhara Avengers on December 24.
Nepal T20 League is being organized by Cricket Association of Nepal and is also approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The inaugural league will feature 30 overseas players.
Another over the hill player going to play for the almighty dollar for the very same people that is said to treat players of African descent inhumanly it seems like money is the ultimate equalizer, not bad after all.