Chitwan Rhinos, one of the eight franchise teams of the inaugural Nepal Premier League (NPL) T20 cricket tournament, have signed Namibia batter Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton.

The 23-year-old Namibian hitman will join South African Marchant de Lange, English Luc Benkenstein and Afghanistan’s Hassan Eisakhil in the Chitwan squad.

The NPL is scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 21.

Left-handed batter Loftie-Eaton broke the record for the fastest T20I hundred in the men’s cricket last year (now joint second fastest), a feat he achieved during Namibia's 20-run victory against Nepal in the Nepal T20I Tri-Nation Series in Kathmandu. Loftie-Eaton brought up his century in just 33 balls, eclipsing Kushal Malla’s record by one ball (currently fourth fastest in the list).

Malla is the marquee signing of Chitwan.

“I have fond memories of TU Cricket Ground,” Loftie-Eaton said after joining Chitwan. “It gave me one of the most iconic innings in T20I cricket. It’s time to do more of the same for Chitwan Rhinos at the Nepal Premier League in front of passionate Nepali cricket fans.”

Chitwan’s Managing Director Aayush Neupane said: “It is there to see what Loftie-Eaton can do in T20 cricket. Nepali cricket fans saw him break Kushal’s record last season at the TU Ground. Now, both the swashbucklers will play for the same team. Fasten your seat belts.”

Chitwan bought Rijan Dhakal, Kamal Airee, Sharad Vesawakar, Bipin Rawal, Santosh Karki, Dipesh Shrestha, Amar Singh Rautela, Deepak Bohara, Ranjeet Kumar and Gautam KC through auction last month.