On June 10, the official Instagram account of the Nepal Premier League announced that the auction for the third season was “coming soon”.

While the auction’s date, player price cap, foreign-player policy and even the tournament schedule are yet to be revealed, all eight franchises have completed a major part of their preparations by announcing their retained players.

Here, the Post looks at the squads retained by the teams, starting with the top four finishers from last season.

Lumbini Lions

The defending champions have retained seven players, including skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel, who is also the marquee for the team.

Sher Malla, who won the emerging player award in the previous season, has also been retained by the Lions. He was the joint highest leading wickettaker, alongside Sandeep Lamichhane and Abinash Bohara, with 17 wickets in 10 games.

There were no Nepali batters, except skipper Paudel, who scored sufficiently with the bat for Lumbini. Paudel had 276 runs in the last season and was followed by D’Arcy Short (256 runs) and Niroshan Dickwella (137 runs).

Dilip Nath followed Dickwella with 122 runs and has been retained to strengthen Lumbini’s batting order. Lumbini also kept Sundeep Jora, who scored 115 runs in 10 games last season, and Dinesh Adhikari, who had 47 runs in three of the innings he batted in four matches he started.

They have retained two bowlers in Abhisesh Gautam and Tilak Bhandari. Gautam and Bhandari claimed seven wickets for Lumbini last season.

Sudurpashchim Royals

The Royals are probably the most frustrated team in the NPL because they lost in the finals in the last two seasons despite being the favourites.

And it is most likely that Sudurpashchim will be the favourites for the third season too. The seven players they retained for the third season also show it.

Dipendra Singh Airee, one of the world’s best T20I all-rounders, will be leading the team again.

Airee, who is now the captain of Nepal’s T20 team, will be supported by the experience of Binod Bhandari, the wicketkeeper-batsman who was third in the list of players with the most runs in the last season, with 264 runs in nine games.

The Royals also retained Aarif Sheikh and Ishan Pandey. Sheikh is having a good time with the national team, while Pandey, who has been showcasing consistency with the bat in the domestic tournaments, made his ODI debut last month against the USA.

In the bowling department, Suduprashchim have given continuity to Abinash Bohara, Hemant Dhami and Hikmat Mahara.

Dhami and Mahara were not used as regulars by Sudurpashchim last season. But their retention suggests that the duo will be bowling more in the coming season.

Biratnagar Kings

The Kings had raised the standards of the NPL by bringing in the likes of Faf du Plessis last season to a squad that already boasted the inclusion of Martin Guptill.

But alongside foreign stars, Biratnagar also had a strong squad of domestic players, especially Sandeep Lamichhane.

Lamichhane, who has played in the top franchise cricket tournaments all over the world, has been retained alongside powerhitter Lokesh Bam and emerging all-rounder Basir Ahamad.

The Kings have also retained Narayan Joshi, who could only manage 48 runs in six innings last season. Pacer Pratish GC and young spinner Subash Bhandari will also continue for Biratnagar, which lost to Lumbini in Qualifier 2 last year.

Kathmandu Gorkhas

The Gorkhas, with Monty Desai as the head coach, got knocked out of the previous season by Lumbini in the Eliminator.

And to get a better result in the upcoming edition, the Gorkhas have retained six players, including marquee and captain Karan KC.

They have also retained Mohammad Aadil Alam, who came to the Gorkhas in the previous auction during the lucky draw. Alam was the only player to get the maximum bid from all eight franchises last year.

Similarly, Rashid Khan and experienced spinner Shahab Alam will also continue for Kathmandu.

Last but not the least, Santosh Yadav has also been retained. Desai had shown a huge belief in Yadav during the 2nd NPL.

Pokhara Avengers

Kushal Bhurtel will lead Pokhara for the third consecutive season as their marquee.

Bhurtel, who is having a great start to 2026, will be continuing his journey with the Avengers alongside young talent Arjun Kumal.

Dinesh Kharel, who has played the game in New Zealand’s domestic scene, has also been retained by the Avengers.

Similarly, Bipin Khatri, Aakash Chand and Kiran Thagunna have also been kept in the squad by Pokhara.

Karnali Yaks

The Yaks have retained seven players for the third season.

Sompal Kami, Karnali’s marquee, will continue to play for the Yaks with his national teammates Gulshan Kumar Jha and Nandan Yadav.

Kami, Jha and Yadav have been crucial for Karnali in the last two seasons.

Deepak Dumre, Pawan Sarraf and Unish Bikram Singh Thakuri are also on the list of Karnali.

Meanwhile, the Yaks also have high hopes for young spinner Yuvraj Khatri.

Chitwan Rhinos

Rhinos had finished third after the conclusion of the league stage during the inaugural NPL. But they dropped to seventh last season.

Yet, the Rhinos have decided to keep believing in seven players from the previous season.

Kushal Malla is the marquee, but he is currently struggling for a place in the national team.

The other six players retained by the Rhinos are Dev Khanal, Arjun Saud, Kamal Singh Airee, Ranjeet Kumar, Deepak Bohara and Rijan Dhakal.

Janakpur Bolts

The Bolts, the winners of the inaugural season, will never want to remember the second season of the NPL as they finished at the bottom.

The retention list started coming with the Bolts on June 11. In the following days, the remaining franchises gradually unveiled the players they had chosen to keep for the third season.

But when the Bolts announced their list, it came as a huge shock for many. The reason: Aasif Sheikh, Janakpur’s marquee, was released.

Further, it seems that the Bolts want a drastic change in their squad as they only retained five players despite the chance to keep up to seven.

Anil Kumar Sah, who has captained the Bolts in the last two seasons, will most likely be the key player for the team. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Mayan Yadav, Aadity Mahata and Bikash Aagri will also continue to be part of the Janakpur team.