Nepal Premier League (NPL), the brainchild of the Cricket Association of Nepal, (CAN) has brought cheers to the countrymen at a time when they are worried by their country's virtual passing through the precipice of political and more particularly economic disaster. The country has been fortunately coasting across the deep troubled water, thanks to the inflow of remittances.

The Nepal Premier League, a franchise cricket featuring eight teams, had virtually been on everybody's lips for the last three weeks during its show from Mangsir 15 to Poush 6. Apart from national cricket celebrities like Dinesh Airee, who is second only to the number one ranked Liang Livingstone of England in the list of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Men T20 all-rounder, they had the opportunity to see cricketing international legends like Brian Lara of the West Indies, who had scored the highest score of 400 runs in a Test match against England. Following him was Anil Dhawan, famous Indian cricketer who holds the distinction of hitting a maximum of 768 fours in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The other foreign cricketers also provided harmonious chorus to the aforementioned duet of Lara and Dhawan.

The matches from the very first day attracted a myriad of spectators, some on the top of the surrounding trees after the ground proved inadequate for the swarming spectators. It was also followed by Nepalis outside the country like the Indian Cricket that is watched by millions from foreign countries.

The cricket fever scaled dizzy heights when the two teams – Janakpur Bolts and Sudurpaschim Royals – locked their horns in the final. The Janakpur Bolts had the last laugh when they won a moderately high scoring match chasing a target of 185 runs. Its stand-in captain Asif Seikh lifted the cup amidst the roaring cheer of their supporters. Quite a few players like Bipin Sharma, the bowling prodigy, outshone in the tournament.

Cricket is said to be an Indian game accidentally discovered in England. It might even be said now that it is also a Nepali sport, financially robust in India and accidentally discovered in England in view of its craze in Nepal as well. A sport which was promoted for the first time by Madan Shumsher in 1920 has fathomed considerable depths in the space of a hundred years by being an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1996.

By now, Nepal has already qualified for the one-day and T20 International, the shorter formats of the game. It nearly beat the Test Playing team South Africa in the last ICC T20 match, which it later lost by a run only. The result could be different had the young all-rounder Gulsan Jha not run out by merely stretching his bat. Its match against Bangladesh also revealed its potential, which it lost by 21 runs in the ICC 20 overs competition. Apart from the Man's team, the Women's team is also making its presence felt in the cricketing arena of the associate nations.

Cricket is said to have its genesis in England during the rules of Anglo Saxons, the contemporary of the Licchavis in Nepal. The first international match was, however, played between England and Australia in 1876, the year of the demise of Junga Bahadur.

Since then, much change has taken place in its overall form. The wicket used to be of two stumps, which was later made into three after Lumpy Stevens bowled through the double stumps when John Small of Hambledon club, England was batting in the year 1775. Its oldest version, the Test Match, goes for five consecutive days, which can still be a draw. At times, it would even prolong to a greater number of days until a win is achieved, which is, however, not the case now.

Because of the rather long duration of the five-day test match, a 50-over game that takes eight hours for its completion is being played regularly. Recently, a 20-over match, which takes four hours, has stolen the show. Now, a 10-over tournament is also being organised regularly, which can be completed in 90 minutes.

NPL has its predecessor in the T20 Cricket League just as the IPL had in the Indian Cricket League. Both NPL and IPL took over from them. But the similarities end here. What stand out are the incredible dissimilarities. For example, the reserve price for the auction when IPL started for the first time in 2008 was $753 million while that of Nepal was around $1.6 million. The highest pay in IPL, 2024, is 40 crore Nepali rupees for Mitchell Starc, the fast bowler of Australia, while the salary was 15 lacs each for some prominent 11 NPL players.

This world is characterised by the existence of big animals like an elephant and a small one like an ant. A similar phenomenon can be observed in franchise cricket also. However, a beginning has been made and NPL was very successful given that it was not dogged by any controversies like the failure to pay the committed money to the players in the erstwhile T20 Cricket League. In IPL, a few teams like Kochi Tuskers were terminated from the tournament for one reason or the other. Similar may be the case in NPL also in the future.

NPL has marvellously organised the tournament even in its maiden effort. It is like getting into an inimical labyrinthian military structure and successfully coming out of it, which even Abhimanyu, the son of Arjun of Mahabharat fame failed to do. He could enter and break it but could not exit, and he was killed in the process. Incidentally, Arjun had revealed the secret to his spouse when she was pregnant. But she happened to fall asleep, and Abhimanyu in his mother's womb could not know the second part of the episode. It is hoped that CAN will not be like Arjun and NPL like yet another Abhimanyu in the following tournaments.