NPL Season 3 offers a promising platform for emerging Bangladeshi talent

A day before the third season of the Nepal Premier League kicked off on October 26, three Bangladeshi journalists arrived at TU International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur, Kathmandu. The media box was still not fully set up. However, the trio left their belongings in the open media box and then headed towards the Tribhuvan International Airport. The biggest name in Bangladesh cricket, Shakib Al Hasan, was landing in Kathmandu to play for Pokhara Avengers in the franchise league.

Shakib is not living in Bangladesh right now. After the Sheikh Hasina-led government was toppled in August 2024, Shakib, who was associated with Hasina’s party—Awami League—could not return to Bangladesh. Then why are Bangladeshi journalists focusing on Shakib? Shakib reigned as the world’s top-ranked all-rounder in all three formats of the game.

Shakib achieved the feat for the first time in 2015, and no one has achieved the feat since. “Shakib has his followers as well as haters,” said Kawser Shanto, one of the three Bangladeshi journalists who are in Kathmandu to cover the NPL.