Northern Districts top order batter Bharat Popli has confirmed his retirement, the last Plunket Shield match of 2025/26 having brought down the curtain on a lengthy and remarkable Domestic career that began in late 2013.
Several statistical quirks adorn the Indian-born Bay of Plenty icon’s record.
Chief among them, Popli became one of the very few New Zealand Domestic cricketers to score 1,000 first-class runs in a season, the fifth to do it in the Plunket Shield.
That was in 2015/16: a long, hot, dry El Niño summer that saw him crowned NZC’s Domestic Cricketer of the Year.
A fluid shotmaker and calm, dependable presence for Northern, he was 25 at the time, and just three seasons into his first-class career.
It was also the days when the Plunket Shield was still played over 10 rounds, rather than the eight rounds of today which will make the feat even harder to emulate.
That breakthrough season netted him 1,149 runs in all, from 10 matches at an average of 65.78.
It included three centuries and a top score of 172 against the Central Stags — and on three other occasions he was dismissed in the nineties.
He was also the top run-scorer in the Plunket Shield in the 2022/23 season, this time with 819 runs.
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The Stags were his personal bunnies. Of his 10 first-class centuries, five of them were against Central.
The battles between the “Districts” brought the best out of him, yet oddly, he never scored a hundred against Otago.
Another stats quirk saw Popli never suit up in the T20 format for Northern — but he was a first-class rock and one-day contributor, and, a loyal, one-team player across his career.
He played 82 first-class matches for Northern, producing 5,428 runs and averaging just a touch under 40 (35 half centuries to go with those 10 tons). Plus, 18 one-dayers for a List A average of 27.26, including three half centuries and a top score of 69.
His leg-breaks were rarely required as he carved out his career as that rare specialist: a frst-class batsman.
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Popli’s summer of runs had seen him picked for New Zealand A the following season, and he was also a lynchpin in Bay of Plenty’s Hawke Cup success, playing in eight Challenge Matches over his lengthy career, most recently in February when he helped his team prise the historic trophy off Taranaki in New Plymouth.
In January 2013, he had scored 99 to help BOP uplift the Hawke Cup from a strong Hamilton side — big centuries from his BOP and ND teammates Joe Carter and Brett Hampton saw the Bay plaster a formidable 701 on the scoreboard. It kicked off a season-long tenure.
He finished with 106 appearances for BOP, their all-time top run-scorer with 4,528 runs. He also scored the most centuries by any BOP representative player (14).
Popli walking out to bat for the last time, applauded by the Stags | MBUTCHER
Popli came from the Tauranga Boys’ College and represented ND at age-group level before graduating to its top side.
“Playing for ND meant a realisation of a childhood dream of becoming a professional cricketer” he says.
“I'm extremely grateful for the support and care I have received from the people in the ND region, starting from grassroots levels all the way to the professional set-up.”
Retirement season | Bharat Popli once scored 1000 runs in a first-class season for ND. Played his last game v the @CentralStags at Seddon in the last round of 25/26 #PlunketShield. pic.twitter.com/MEBAYzhotc
— #NZIII (@MargotButcher) June 17, 2026
Popli, who is a practising civil engineer in his career away from cricket, played a key role in Northern’s drought-breaking Plunket Shield championship win a year ago, and described it as “the highlight” of his cricket career in terms of achievements.
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"[However] the biggest highlights have always been in the small moments — someone taking a screamer of a catch, taking the final wicket in the last over of the game, match-winning scores to get the team over the line, and just the fight that has been shown to the get the best out of each other.”
ND’s GM of Performance and Talent Ian Sandbrook said, “Bharat has been an outstanding player for ND over a long period of time.
"As his stats show, Bharat was a quality player, and his invaluable contributions as a mainstay of our batting line-up and quality slip catcher will be missed by the whole group.”
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