David Warner Joins Kathmandu Gorkhas for Nepal Premier League
David Warner has chosen an unlikely stage for the next chapter of his career: the high-altitude noise and colour of the Nepal Premier League.
The 39-year-old Australian opener will turn out for Kathmandu Gorkhas in the league’s third season, with the tournament set to begin on 26 October at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu.
The move, reported by Kathmandu Post, was confirmed after a teasing campaign by the franchise that stretched over four days and whipped local fans into speculation. Warner becomes the Gorkhas’ third overseas signing. The club has not yet disclosed how many matches he will play.
Warner’s message to Nepal
In a video released by Kathmandu Gorkhas, Warner spoke of genuine enthusiasm at joining the side. He said he was happy to link up with the team and voiced his hope that the Nepal Premier League could offer people some joy and a reason to come together after a difficult spell for the country.
He also pointed to something that has long filtered back to international dressing rooms: the reputation of Nepal’s cricket supporters. Warner noted he had heard plenty about the passion of Nepalese fans and wants to feel the atmosphere for himself, playing in the shadow of the Himalayas.
Former Nepal captain Paras Khadka publicly welcomed Warner, sharing the club’s announcement and adding the weight of a national icon to the signing. Kathmandu Gorkhas executive director Anubhav Swar Sirohiya told Kathmandu Post that talks to bring Warner in had stretched over several months, underlining the scale of the capture for both club and league.
A giant of the modern game
Warner arrives in Nepal as a recently retired international, but hardly a fading figure.
He ended his international career after Australia’s exit to India in the Super 8 stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup. He walks away from that arena as Australia’s leading run-scorer in T20 internationals, with 3,277 runs in 110 matches.
The numbers across formats are the record of a generational opener.
- 112 Tests, 8,786 runs.
- 161 ODIs, 6,932 runs.
He helped Australia lift the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2023, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the 2021–2023 World Test Championship, stacking trophies across formats in an era of relentless cricket.
In franchise T20, Warner’s pedigree is just as striking. In the Indian Premier League he became a cornerstone figure, starring for Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals. He captained Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title in 2016, scored 6,565 runs in 184 IPL games, and claimed the Orange Cap three times as the tournament’s leading run-scorer.
What Warner means for Nepal
For Kathmandu Gorkhas and the Nepal Premier League, this is more than a marquee signing. It is a statement of intent.
Warner brings not only runs and experience, but a spotlight. A player who has opened in Ashes series and World Cup finals will now stride out at TU International Cricket Ground, in front of fans who have long craved this level of star power on home soil.
How many matches he plays remains unclear. The anticipation, though, is already clear enough: one of modern cricket’s most aggressive openers is heading to Kathmandu, and an emerging league suddenly has a headline act worthy of its ambition.
