Kathmandu. In the auction held on Saturday for the second edition of the Nepal Premier League (NPL), various eight teams brought in 37 players. Five teams brought in 5 players each, while the remaining three teams brought in 4 players each, bringing the number of Nepali players in all teams to 11 each. Everyone’s eyes were on the star players and those who have already played for the national team during the auction. Among them, all eight teams seemed eager to recruit Adil Ansari.

There was interest from teams in both young bowlers at the auction. Yuvraj Khatri, who has played for Nepal’s U-19 team, and Aditya Mahtal, who is playing local cricket in Australia, were sold for a maximum price as they garnered interest from more than one team.Aditya is from Kanchanpur Krishnapur. The left-arm spinner Aditya came into the limelight last year when he became a net bowler for the Australian women’s team.

During the Women’s World Cup preparations, Mahta had the opportunity to bowl in the nets for the Australian women’s team. He has also played for various local teams in Australia.Aditya has played for the Senior team of Sudurpashchim. He played in the Prime Minister’s Cup in 2022, where he took 9 wickets in 4 matches for Sudurpashchim.

After that, he went to Australia and registered in Category C for this season’s NPL. When bidding on him started from a minimum of 200,000 rupees, the Sudurpaschim Royals and Janakpur Bulls were ready to bring in a maximum of 500,000 rupees. Finally, he successfully got tied up with Janakpur for 500,000 through a ‘lucky draw’.

Aditya is one of the two players who will be sold for a maximum of 5 lakhs in the second season’s auction from category C. Another category C player, Vishal Patel, has also been contracted to Lumbini Lions for 5 lakh rupees. Here, five teams bid on 17-year-old young leg-spinner Yuvraj Khatri. He was in category B for this season’s auction. Yuvraj, who played in the Asia Cup and World Cup qualifiers for Nepal’s U-19 team, is a spinner who caught the eye of senior team coach Stuart Law. He has already been included in the last two closed training sessions. Even if he doesn’t make the final team, he is considered the future of Nepali cricket.

Yuvraj from Chaurpati, Achham district was fascinated by cricket at a young age. His brother Jivan brought him to Kathmandu at the age of eight to teach him cricket after starting his journey with a domestic bat and ball. After enrolling at Angel Hearts Academy in Kathmandu, he progressed with both studies and cricket. Initially, he played cricket from Kathmandu district, but later he played domestic age-group cricket from Sudurpashchim province.

After that, the young player Yuvraj, who was part of Nepal’s age group team, showcased outstanding performances in the U-19 World Cup held in Mulapani last year. At that time, the coach of the Nepali U-19 team, Shakti Gauchan, referred to Yuvraj as the ‘trump card’ of the Nepali team.Five teams from the NPFL expressed interest in bringing Yuvraj, who has made the journey from the age group to the senior team’s closed training.Sudurpashchim, Lumbini, Karnali, Biratnagar, and Chitwan all approached him for his inclusion. Through a lucky draw, Yuvraj was contracted with Karnali for 1 million rupees.