David Warner Signs with Kathmandu Gorkhas for Nepal Premier League
David Warner’s international farewell will not be his final act with the bat. The Australian opener is set for a new stage – and a very different backdrop – after signing for Kathmandu Gorkhas for the third season of the Nepal Premier League.
The tournament begins on 26 October, with all matches scheduled at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu, where the mountains loom over the boundary rope and the noise rarely dips.
A star arrival for a league on the rise
Kathmandu Post first reported the deal, which the Gorkhas confirmed after several days of teasing fans on social media. Warner becomes the club’s third overseas signing, a marquee name for a competition still carving out its place on the global T20 map.
One detail remains under wraps: the franchise has not yet revealed how many matches Warner will actually play. That uncertainty has not dampened the buzz. For a young league, even a partial season from a player of his stature is a statement of intent.
Negotiations, according to Kathmandu Gorkhas executive director Anubhav Swar Sirohiya, stretched over several months. The persistence has paid off. The league now has a headline act.
Warner’s message to Nepal
In a video released by the franchise, Warner spoke of his delight at joining the Gorkhas and looked beyond runs and results. He said he hoped the Nepal Premier League could bring joy and a sense of unity to the country after a difficult period, underlining how sport often steps into a space much larger than the scoreboard.
He also touched on something cricketers across the world have mentioned in recent years: the noise and passion of Nepal’s fans. Warner said he had heard plenty about that fervour and wanted to feel it for himself, out in the middle, with the Himalayas framing the ground.
Former Nepal captain Paras Khadka, the figurehead of the national side’s rise over the past decade, welcomed Warner publicly in a post shared alongside the club’s announcement, a symbolic passing of the torch from one standard-bearer to another.
A giant of the modern game
Warner arrives in Nepal with one of the most complete white-ball résumés in modern cricket.
The 39-year-old brought down the curtain on his international career after Australia’s exit to India in the Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup. He leaves as Australia’s leading run-scorer in T20 internationals, with 3,277 runs from 110 games – a body of work built on aggression, relentlessness and a refusal to back away from any contest.
His Test record is equally imposing. Across 112 matches, Warner piled up 8,786 runs, often setting the tempo at the top of the order. In 161 ODIs, he added 6,932 runs and formed the spine of an Australian side that collected trophies with regularity.
The honours list is long: ODI World Cups in 2015 and 2023, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the 2021–2023 World Test Championship. Few players walk away with that many medals and that many miles in their legs.
IPL pedigree meets a new frontier
Franchise cricket has always suited Warner’s game, and his record in the Indian Premier League underlines why Kathmandu Gorkhas pushed so hard to get him.
Across 184 IPL matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals, he has scored 6,565 runs, winning the Orange Cap three times as the league’s top run-scorer. In 2016, he captained Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title, driving a squad that punched above its financial weight to the trophy.
Those numbers give the Gorkhas more than just a famous name. They get a proven match-winner, a player used to carrying expectation in hostile environments and on big nights.
A league, a city, and a new chapter
For Nepal Premier League organisers, Warner’s arrival is a breakthrough moment. A global star choosing Kathmandu, even after stepping away from international cricket, sends a clear message: this is a league worth watching, and a destination worth the journey.
For Warner, it is something else again. A fresh dressing room. A new crowd. A chance to feel the roar from a different corner of the cricketing world.
The stage is set at TU International Cricket Ground. How loudly will the Himalayas echo when David Warner walks out in Kathmandu colours?
