Calling the second season of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) normal would be like calling Mount Everest just any other hill, for the second edition of the ‘festival of the Himalayas’ was a cocktail of twists. The drama that unfolded over a month distinguishes the NPL from every other sports league across the world. The content and entertainment that NPL season 2 provided were so diverse that hardly any YouTubers could match it.

From commentators wearing helmets inside the commentary box, fearing another six from Kushal Bhurtel, to Kushal Malla’s hit that left a cheerleader injured, this NPL season was nothing short of crazy. One moment, the crowd was roaring on miraculous sixes, enjoying the twerk of Chitwan Rhino’s mascot and Baddau’s Shah Rukh Khan pose, clicking videos of some uncles showing off Michael Jackson, Mithun Chakraborty and Rajesh Hamal moves, while the very next moment they were booing the umpires for their decision.

One moment, they converted the cricket stadium into a concert, swaying their hands and holding lit phones in the air, while the very next moment, they expressed their remorse over the misses that looked perfectly choreographed. The weather had a ‘wicket’ sense of humour too, as it stepped up by putting Rishi Dhamala’s Ashambhav and changing expressions to shame. The audience couldn't shout at Indra Devta (Rain god) for his wrath, so they forwarded their wish to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) via social media to put a roof over the parapet next. The rumours are that CAN is just a few steps away from a tathaastu.

But again, Nepal is not for ordinary people. That’s not simply my personal view. That’s what my friends from abroad said after barraging me with reels of Gen Z protest. It’s not every day you see videos of men peeing in front of burning parliament, people recording funny and romantic reels while historical buildings turn into ruins and people, including children and senior citizens, burgling superstores. While we were busy blaming leaders for all the things they have done and not done, we were vandalising the property we built with our taxes and laying our country bare for foreign actors to score their geopolitical interests. This anger was also visible at the TU Cricket Stadium. I still can’t forget how religiously the victory of the first season was celebrated in Janakpur. But as soon as the Bolts became wobbly in season 2, that very audience started slandering Anil Kumar Sah. Let alone Sah, some Facebook users also demanded a Madheshi owner because, apparently, a non-Madheshi owner couldn’t grasp Janakpur’s cricketing essence.

During the auction of NPL season 2, we could see visuals of overjoyed teams as they signed major international players, but sadly, cricket is not played on paper but out on the pitch. Few teams folded faster than a cheap camping chair. Some teams were not losing but were literally exploring new ways to face defeat. Their top order produced runs so few that statisticians checked if they had missed an inning. The same applies to governments worldwide. A constitution and policies don’t run a country; goal-oriented strategic governance does.

Welcome to the new Nepal, where silence is illegal. Whether it is on roads, in stadiums, or on glossy phones, this generation is fierce. There are too many voices, too many filters, too many posts. They tag, they share, they comment: They have the algorithm cracked. Nepotism or favouritism? They are ready to come up with a trending hashtag. From youths perched in a cute, cosy and aesthetic coffee shop in Gairidhara to a youth sitting in a park in Terai, the same energy courses through the country’s youth. I had hopes, serious hopes, but when I saw and heard Gen Z-ers who came up with witty, sharp punchlines and reels against nepotism, ask for free NPL tickets from people they thought were powerful or had ties with the CAN, I was forced to think twice.

The NPL season two has definitely scaled great heights. The floodlights, the stadium, the lighting, the sound effects, the spider cameras, speed guns and reformed digital boards; it’s beautiful to see how far we have come. It gets better when you get to see these matches amid orangy skies, snowcapped mountains, cold breeze and clouds that seem like floating cotton. It’s pure joy.

NPL season 2 isn’t perfect, nor was the Gen Z movement. For every nail-biting NPL match, there’s a cringe-worthy maiden over or a rather minuscule target. Maybe while we were demanding a boundary-breaking transformation, we secretly wanted a step at a time. But maybe that’s also exactly why it worked, and it was magical. It was unpolished, unpredictable and purely authentic.