David Warner Signs with Kathmandu Gorkhas for Nepal Premier League
David Warner’s international curtain has barely fallen. His next act will play out in the shadow of the Himalayas.
The 39-year-old Australian opener has signed for Kathmandu Gorkhas for the third season of the Nepal Premier League, a move that instantly drags the competition into the global spotlight. The tournament begins on 26 October, with all matches to be staged at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu.
The deal, reported by the Kathmandu Post, ends days of teasing from the franchise, which had drip-fed hints about a marquee foreign signing before finally revealing Warner as their third overseas player. The club has yet to confirm how many matches he will actually play, but the name alone changes the conversation around the league.
Warner’s message to Nepal
In a video released by Kathmandu Gorkhas, Warner spoke with the easy assurance of a man who has seen most of what cricket can offer, yet still wants something new.
He said he was happy to join the team and voiced a clear hope: that the Nepal Premier League could give people joy and a reason to come together after a difficult period for the country. He also pointed to something he has only heard about so far — the fervour of Nepal’s cricket supporters — and made it clear he wants to feel that energy for himself, in a ground ringed by mountains.
The welcome has already begun. Former Nepal captain Paras Khadka publicly greeted Warner in a post shared alongside the club’s announcement, a symbolic passing of the torch from the nation’s most influential cricketer to its most high-profile guest.
Kathmandu Gorkhas executive director Anubhav Swar Sirohiya told the Kathmandu Post that negotiations had stretched over several months. This was not a late, opportunistic swoop; it was a long pursuit of a player whose presence can reshape how a young league is perceived.
A giant of the modern game
Warner arrives in Nepal as a retired international but far from a spent force.
He walked away from Australia duty after their exit to India in the Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup, closing a chapter that has left him as his country’s leading run-scorer in T20 internationals: 3,277 runs in 110 matches.
His numbers across formats are the mark of a modern great.
- 112 Tests, 8,786 runs.
- 161 ODIs, 6,932 runs.
The honours list is just as heavy: ODI World Cup titles in 2015 and 2023, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the 2021–2023 World Test Championship with Australia.
Franchise cricket knows his value better than anyone. In the Indian Premier League, Warner became synonymous with relentless runs and ruthless intent, starring for Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals. He captained Sunrisers to the 2016 title and piled up 6,565 runs in 184 IPL games, winning the Orange Cap three times as the tournament’s leading run-scorer.
Those are the numbers Kathmandu Gorkhas have bought into. Those are the standards by which he will be judged, even in a new league on unfamiliar pitches.
What Warner means for Nepal Premier League
For Nepal’s players, Warner is not just an opponent or a teammate; he is a living reference point. They have watched him dominate on television for more than a decade. Now they will share a dressing room with him, or try to solve him with the new ball.
For the league, his arrival is a statement. A competition still carving out its identity has attracted one of the defining openers of his era. That can lift broadcast interest, crowd numbers, and, perhaps most importantly, belief — belief that Nepal can be more than a passionate outpost, that it can be a stage worth crossing continents for.
The schedule will reveal how often Warner walks out at TU International Cricket Ground and how much time local fans get with him. The club has kept that detail under wraps for now.
But one thing is already clear: when the Nepal Premier League begins on 26 October, all eyes will turn to Kathmandu to see what David Warner does next.
