NPL 2026 Commentators, Hosts and Presenters: The Full List

The voices of NPL Season 3 are now set out in full, with international experience in the English box, dedicated Nepali and Maithili panels, and a studio and ground team covering every match at Kirtipur.

English Commentary Panel

The English commentary team for NPL 2026 will include Andrew Leonard, HD Ackerman and Mikkhail Vaswani, according to the full list published by Cricket Times on October 26. Leonard is a familiar voice to cricket audiences from international and franchise coverage, while Ackerman, a former South African cricketer, brings playing experience and tactical insight to the box. Vaswani, another experienced broadcaster, completes the three-name English panel.

The panel takes charge as the season opens at the Tribhuvan University Ground in Kirtipur, where defending champions Lumbini Lions met Sudurpaschim Royals in the first match on October 26. With 32 matches to be played at the same venue through to the final on November 21, the English voices will carry most of the international audience through the tournament, explaining match situations and turning points as the points table takes shape.

Nepali and Maithili Commentary

The Nepali-language commentary panel will feature Jibesh Oli, Hemraj Hamal and Kiran Bhattarai. Their presence gives viewers who prefer commentary in Nepali a direct way into every match, and for a domestic competition that local connection is a large part of the broadcast. Familiar voices and familiar expressions help the tournament feel like a Nepali event first, rather than a feed imported from elsewhere.

The Maithili panel adds a further layer. Saroj Kumar Mandal and Saroj Kumar Sooryabanshi will provide Maithili commentary, extending coverage to Maithili-speaking audiences, including in the Madhesh region. Cricket Times notes that commentary in regional languages makes the game more accessible and strengthens the link between the league and its diverse fan base, and the Maithili addition follows that logic directly.

Together, the three language panels mean the same match can reach very different audiences without losing its local character. English carries the international feed, Nepali carries the home audience, and Maithili reaches a community that rarely gets dedicated cricket commentary. That spread is one of the clearest signs of how far the NPL has grown since its first season, when coverage was far narrower.

Studio Hosts and Analysts

The studio team for NPL 2026 will include Shoaib Akhtar, Kevin O'Brien, Navneeth Krishna and Bardan Chalise, contributing to match discussions, previews and analysis. Akhtar, the former Pakistan fast bowler known as the Rawalpindi Express, brings a fast bowler's view of pace, pressure and big-match temperament, while O'Brien, the former Ireland all-rounder, brings the perspective of a player remembered for explosive batting on the biggest stages.

Krishna and Chalise complete the studio group, working across previews and analysis as the panel examines team combinations, individual performances and turning points through the tournament. Their work sits around the live action rather than inside the commentary box, giving viewers a place to reset between innings, debate selection calls and make sense of a result before the next match begins.

The studio list also connects with earlier broadcast news for this season. Akhtar's involvement in the NPL Season 3 broadcast was already reported before the full panel was published, as covered in Shoaib Akhtar Joins NPL Season 3 Broadcast as Special Guest, and the wider rights picture for the season was set when the media and ticketing deal was announced, as covered in NPL Season 3 Media and Ticketing Rights: NetTV, Himalaya TV and eSewa Win Rs 33.53 Crore Deal. The full panel now fills in the names around those earlier announcements.

Ground Presenters

The ground presentation team will include Yesha Sagar, Rubishka V. Shrestha and Suzta Shrestha. Their job is to bring the atmosphere of the venue to television audiences through pitch-side updates, interviews and conversations with players and team representatives, complementing the commentary and studio coverage with a closer look at the people behind each match.

At a single-venue tournament, the ground team quickly becomes familiar to regular viewers. The same presenters will be at the boundary, in the dugout areas and at the post-match interviews night after night, building relationships with captains, coaches and players that a rotating crew could not. That familiarity often produces the small moments that stay with fans: a candid answer after a defeat, a joke between team-mates, or a first reaction from a young player after a breakthrough performance.

The presenters also carry the match-day story beyond the score. With live scores tracking every ball and the schedule running through to November 21, viewers can follow the numbers anywhere, but the ground team explains what those numbers felt like at Kirtipur: the crowd, the conditions and the mood in each camp.

Broadcast Coverage for Fans

For fans, the full panel means the season can be followed in the language and format that suits them, whether that is English commentary, a Nepali or Maithili feed, studio analysis between matches, or pitch-side interviews at the ground. The coverage runs alongside the rest of the tournament experience, with streaming options for viewers watching away from Kirtipur and tickets for those heading to the ground in person.

The list arrives on the opening day itself, so viewers tuning in for the first time this season can now put names to the voices they hear. As the league moves past the opener and into its busy middle weeks, the panel will be tested by close finishes, selection debates and the playoff race, and the quality of that coverage will shape how the season is remembered almost as much as the cricket itself.