How the NPL Season 3 squads were built

Before the overseas names arrived, the eight teams built their Nepali squads in two steps: retentions in June, then the auction on Monday 6 July.

Who each team kept

Teams could keep up to seven players. 52 were retained in all.

• Lumbini Lions (7): Rohit Paudel, who is captain and marquee player, plus Sher Malla, Dilip Nath, Sundeep Jora, Dinesh Adhikari, Abhisesh Gautam and Tilak Bhandari.
• Sudurpaschim Royals (7): Dipendra Singh Airee, who leads the team again, plus Binod Bhandari, Aarif Sheikh, Ishan Pandey, Abinash Bohara, Hemant Dhami and Hikmat Mahara.
• Karnali Yaks (7): Sompal Kami (marquee), Gulshan Kumar Jha, Nandan Yadav, Deepak Dumre, Pawan Sarraf, Unish Bikram Singh Thakuri and Yuvraj Khatri.
• Chitwan Rhinos (7): Kushal Malla (marquee), Dev Khanal, Arjun Saud, Kamal Singh Airee, Ranjeet Kumar, Deepak Bohara and Rijan Dhakal.
• Pokhara Avengers: Kushal Bhurtel, who is marquee and will lead the team, plus Arjun Kumal, Dinesh Kharel, Bipin Khatri, Aakash Chand and Kiran Thagunna.
• Biratnagar Kings (6): Sandeep Lamichhane, Lokesh Bam, Basir Ahamad, Narayan Joshi, Pratish GC and Subash Bhandari.
• Kathmandu Gorkhas (6): Karan KC, who is captain and marquee, plus Mohammad Aadil Alam, Rashid Khan, Shahab Alam and Santosh Yadav. The report didn't name the sixth.
• Janakpur Bolts (5): Anil Kumar Sah, who captained them in the first two seasons, plus Mayan Yadav, Aadity Mahata, Bikash Aagri and one more. They let their marquee player, Aasif Sheikh, go.

The auction

There were 155 players in the pool and 37 were sold. Each team can now have 14 Nepali players, up from 12.

The big story was Aasif Sheikh. He was the only player with a base price of Rs 1.5 million, bidding hit the Rs 2 million ceiling, and Lumbini Lions won him on a lucky draw. Here's who went for the most:

Player	Team	Price
Aasif Sheikh	Lumbini Lions	Rs 2 million
Arjun Gharti	Pokhara Avengers	Rs 1.5 million
Bibek Kumar Yadav	Chitwan Rhinos	Rs 1.5 million
Rupesh Kumar Singh	Biratnagar Kings	Rs 1.5 million
Trit Raj Das	Janakpur Bolts	Rs 1.5 million
Dipak Bohara	Sudurpaschim Royals	Rs 1 million
Kishor Mahato	Lumbini Lions	Rs 1 million

Kathmandu Gorkhas didn't buy anyone from the top two price categories.

After the auction, teams filled their squads from a wish list of unsold players, which took everyone to 13 Nepali players. Each team adds one more from its talent hunt to make 14.