David Miller lands in Kathmandu, KS Bharat pulls out and Russell stays one more game

The NPL had a rest day on Wednesday, but the squads kept changing. One big name came in, one pulled out for good and one decided to stay a bit longer.

Miller arrives

South Africa's David Miller landed at Tribhuvan International Airport on Wednesday morning to join Karnali Yaks. Miller, 37, is a left-handed middle-order batter with 2,804 runs in 140 T20 internationals and 12,435 runs in all T20 cricket.

He's expected to make his NPL debut against Sudurpaschim Royals on Friday. Karnali have won two of their three games so far.

Bharat won't come

KS Bharat, the former India Test wicketkeeper-batter, won't play this season. Kathmandu Gorkhas announced it on Facebook on Wednesday: "Due to prior commitments, KS Bharat will not be joining us this season." Neither report names a replacement.

Kathmandu have played two games, with one win and one loss.

Russell stays

Andre Russell was due to play his last game of the season on Tuesday, when his 52 not out and four wickets beat Janakpur Bolts by two runs. He'll now also play for Biratnagar Kings against Kathmandu on Thursday.

"I love Nepal so much, I am staying," Russell told reporters, according to The Kathmandu Post. He also said he'd be back: "I am definitely, you know, coming back to this tournament next year."

Kantipur reports that he then goes to the UAE for the Abu Dhabi T10 with Arabian Aces, whose captain is Moeen Ali.

Moeen heads to the UAE

Moeen has already gone. Janakpur's CEO told Kantipur that he left for the UAE on Tuesday evening. The report doesn't say whether he'll be back. Janakpur play Lumbini Lions on Thursday.

Ten Bangladeshi players

The Kathmandu Post counts ten Bangladeshi players with five franchises this season:

• Pokhara Avengers: Shakib Al Hasan, Mahedi Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin
• Karnali Yaks: Ariful Islam, Jishan Alam and Akbar Ali
• Janakpur Bolts: Saif Hassan and Parvez Hossain Emon
• Kathmandu Gorkhas: Ripon Mondol
• Lumbini Lions: Shamim Hossain

That report gave us the teams for Ariful, Jishan and Ripon, so all three are now in our squads and the stats. Ariful has 119 runs from three games.