Nepali cricket has seen many ups and downs. To be frank, the real ignition of passion in Nepali cricket fraternity started when Nepal qualified for ICC T20 World Cup 2014 in Bangladesh. In fact, Nepal did a pretty good job defeating Hongkong and Afghanistan in the first round. Bangladesh defeated Nepal by 8 wickets to stop Nepal from advancing further in the tournament. The journey proceeded further with Nepal getting ODI status in 2018. 

Many things have changed since then. There were a lot of complaints regarding domestic cricket structure and professionalism in Nepali cricket. There is no doubt that the initiation of franchise cricket tournaments in domestic cricket has done a lot to uplift the cricketing culture of the himalayan nation. In particular, the credit for success and the journey of Nepali cricket in T20 Internationals has to be given to these tournaments.

Three major domestic tournaments namely Everest Premier League (EPL), Dhangadi Premier League (DPL) and Pokhara Premier League (PPL) deserve special mention. EPL in particular, has disrupted the quality of domestic tournaments in this country. Big established international names including Shahid Afridi, Tamim Iqbal, Upul Tharanga, Mohammad Shahzad and Richard Levi became a part of the tournament. Nepali players were presented an opportunity to share dressing room with these guys and sharpen their skills.

CAN announces Nepal T20 League

Amidst all these contributions from private sector, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has recently announced Nepal T20 League that is supposed to be organized in September-October this year. Seven3Sports which is an Indian company has been assigned to organize the event.

A T20 league being organized by cricket governing body is undoubtedly a good news for Nepali cricket.

However, a rather surprising decision by CAN was that the board said it would not be sanctioning any of the franchise tournaments as the national league from here onwards. These leagues can carry on taking place in the country if they adapted a regional model.

This decision was never going to be easily accepted by tournaments like EPL. Everest Premier League (EPL) Private Ltd, the organisers of EPL T20 cricket tournament, and six franchise teams then filed a writ petition against Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) at the Supreme Court on 26th May.

EPL Managing Director Amir Akhtar says : 

"The entire team owners of EPL showed great attitude to revive and revamp Nepal cricket in tough times when CAN was suspended by ICC. EPL has become a global product from Nepal in the sports industry that was broadcasted in over 80 countries in 2021. This has come through lots of hard work, investment and vision. We are disappointed how CAN has treated EPL's family over a private foreign company that has entered violating Government of Nepal's laws and it's sovereignty. However  the matter is subjudice to honourable supreme court."

As per EPL's press release, a stay order has been demanded against CAN's Nepal T20 League and discard partnership with Seven3Sports. EPL organizers along with six franchises have also warned that they would boycott any event organised by the cricket governing body if the EPL was not sanctioned.

The statement from EPL states : 

"EPL and all six franchises have unanimously decided to seek appropriate legal recourse as per the prevalent laws of Nepal. Therefore, a writ petition has been filed before the Supreme Court of Nepal praying for a stay order against the erroneous decision of CAN. We have full faith and humbly believe that the judiciary will grant us appropriate remedy."