Sahibzada Farhan Arrives in Kathmandu for NPL Season 3

The Pakistan T20 captain touched down at Tribhuvan International Airport on Saturday, a day after Karnali Yaks confirmed his signing, and was welcomed by franchise representatives in the team's colours.

Airport welcome on Saturday

Karnali Yaks wasted no time getting their marquee signing into the country. Sahibzada Farhan landed at Tribhuvan International Airport on Saturday, October 24, and was welcomed by representatives of Karnali Yaks Sports Pvt Ltd, according to Nepal Views and ePardafas, with Patrukar citing Thaha Khabar for the Saturday landing. Photographs from the arrival show the Pakistan captain wearing a Karnali Yaks scarf and giving a thumbs-up, the now-familiar welcome ritual for overseas stars touching down in Kathmandu.

The arrival came barely a day after the franchise announced the signing. Karnali confirmed on Friday, October 23, that the 30-year-old right-handed top-order batter would represent the Yaks in the third edition of the Nepal Premier League, as covered in our report on the Farhan signing. That one-day turnaround from announcement to arrival underlines how late and how quickly the Yaks have moved to complete their overseas contingent, with the season opener now just two days away.

Pakistan captain's T20 record

Farhan arrives as one of the most in-form batters in the tournament. He made his T20 international debut against Australia in 2018 and has since scored 1,554 runs in 51 matches for Pakistan, including two centuries and 13 half-centuries, at a strike rate of 139.49. Nepal Views noted that he has scored a half-century in each of his last three T20 internationals in Rawalpindi, a run of form that carried straight into his NPL move.

His 2026 has been genuinely outstanding. The NPL official site recorded that Farhan finished as the leading run-scorer at the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup with 383 runs in six matches, becoming the first batter to score two centuries in a single edition of the tournament. He has since been appointed Pakistan's full-time T20 captain, which makes his presence in Kathmandu a notable coup for the league: a sitting international captain choosing to spend the heart of the season in Nepal, rather than arriving as a retired name. Across all T20 cricket he has 5,775 runs in 186 matches, a body of work that explains why Karnali moved so fast once the signing was agreed.

Karnali's six overseas signings

Farhan is the second Pakistan national-team player in the Yaks squad. The franchise signed prominent all-rounder Hussain Talat on Thursday, October 22, and Talat has also already arrived in Nepal, as reported in our report on the Talat signing. The pair give Karnali a strong Pakistani core at the top of the order, with Farhan's powerplay batting complementing Talat's all-round game.

With Farhan's arrival, Karnali's overseas group is now complete at six: Farhan and Talat from Pakistan, South Africa's David Miller, Bangladesh youngsters Ariful Islam and Akbar Ali, and Scotland's Mark Watt, who impressed in the league's second season. Miller's signing was announced on Friday, the same day as Farhan's, as covered in our report on the Miller deal. Apart from Watt, every overseas Yaks player will be making his NPL debut, which makes the first week of the season a genuine test of how quickly this new group gels. Behind them sits a domestic core led by marquee player Sompal Kami, with Gulshan Jha, Nandan Yadav, Bipin Sharma and Pawan Sarraf among the Nepali names the franchise is counting on.

Opener against Janakpur Bolts

The timing could hardly be tighter. The third NPL season begins on October 26 at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, and Karnali open their campaign the following day against Janakpur Bolts, with every fixture listed on the season 3 schedule. Farhan will therefore have barely 72 hours between landing and his first potential outing in Yaks colours, though his recent run of form suggests match sharpness will not be a problem.

For Karnali, the stakes are clear. The Yaks finished sixth last season and have never reached an NPL final, and this recruitment drive — a sitting international captain, a proven finisher in Miller, and a proven all-rounder in Talat — is the franchise's most ambitious attempt yet to change that story. Fans can follow whether the new-look side delivers on the NPL live scores page once the season starts, and watch the early shake-up on the NPL points table as the eight teams fight for four playoff spots.