Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Friday announced the Nepal T20 League champions will win a prize of Rs5.5 million.

It is the largest monetary prize ever awarded to winners of any domestic competition in Nepali cricket. The amount surpasses Rs5 million total—the previous highest pot—the Everest Premier League (EPL) champions earned in October last year.

The runners-up will receive Rs3 million. The teams finishing third and fourth will walk away with a purse of Rs 1 million and Rs500,000 respectively.

The player of the tournament will get Rs500,000. The best bowler and the best batter will take home Rs250,000 each while the rising player will get Rs180,000. The player of the match will receive Rs40,000 each.

CAN, the organiser, on Friday released the new fixtures of Nepal T20, which was postponed by one day in the eleventh hour on Thursday.

Kathmandu Knights and Pokhara Avengers will face each other at the Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground in the opening game that is scheduled to start at 9:15 am on Saturday. Lumbini All Stars and Far West United will meet later at 1:15 in the afternoon.

The top two teams at the end of the league round will meet in the Playoff 1 on January 8, 2023, while the second and third placed teams will contest in the Eliminator a day later.

The winners of Playoff 1 will advance to the January 11 final. The losing side will battle the winners of Eliminator in the Playoff 2 on January 10 for the remaining spot in the title clash.

Lack of preparations

The Nepal T20, country’s first ever official franchise cricket tournament, is finally happening after being postponed for a third time.

However, CAN has come under fire for its lack of preparations since the announcement of Nepal T20 in May.

The league was originally scheduled to take place from September 24 to October 2. But it had to be rescheduled to December 12-31 dates after the Ministry of Home Affairs directed CAN to hold Nepal T20 only after the completion of the November 20 elections. CAN had again deferred the league for December 23 to January 10, 2023 after announcing Kathmandu Knights as the new franchise team following the withdrawal of Kathmandu Gurkhas.

On Friday, CAN postponed the league citing technical difficulties.

CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand said foreign players were yet to receive their work permit and Indian sports management company Seven3Sports—to which CAN had sold all the commercial and strategic rights for eight years—had failed to make necessary arrangements.

CAN has also been criticised for picking Seven3Sports without any competitive process.

EPL and its six franchises had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court against the CAN accusing it of “discretely entering into a private agreement and neglecting laws of Nepal” in May.

Under the deal, Seven3Sports is to provide CAN with a purse of around Rs330 million in the eight years period. The Indian company should have paid CAN Rs 41.25 million before the start of the first season of the league.

Sources however said that the Indian company has yet to pay more than 29 million rupees.

Chand admitted that uncertainty surrounded the Nepal T20 League in the last few days because they have been facing legal complications.

“We initiated Nepal T20 for the betterment of players and the overall Nepali cricket. But some people have been trying to foil our plans,” Chand added.