Nepal cricket has achieved another milestone in sports history. Nepal’s men’s cricket team has officially qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup for the second consecutive, and overall third, time. The tournament will be held next year in India and Sri Lanka. Making history in Oman during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia & East Asia Pacific Qualifier, Nepal not only qualified for the next Twenty20 World Cup but also won all six games to become champions.
Nepal cricket team captain Rohit Paudel said that Nepal had dreamed of playing in a third World Cup. “All Nepalis have achieved their dream. We hope many Nepalis will go to India to cheer for us in the World Cup,” he said. “We dreamed, we believed, and we achieved it.” He also expressed that during the World Cup, the Nepali team is preparing to win against test-playing nations.
The Nepali team and its players were praised around the world. Before leaving for Oman for the qualifier, Nepal won a historic bilateral series against the West Indies in the UAE. Nepal, Oman, and the UAE qualified for the 20-team World Cup from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia & East Asia Pacific Qualifier. Of the 20 teams, 12 secured automatic qualification in the World Cup.
India and Sri Lanka are the host nations, while South Africa, England, Afghanistan, Australia, the West Indies, Bangladesh, and the USA qualified by reaching the Super 8 at the 2024 World Cup. New Zealand, Pakistan, and Ireland progressed based on the ICC Men’s Twenty20 International rankings.
Ireland, New Zealand, and Pakistan were selected on the basis of ICC rankings. The other eight countries qualified from the four regional qualifiers—Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia & East Asia Pacific (EAP) qualifiers. Canada qualified from the Americas Qualifier; the Netherlands and Italy from the Europe Qualifier; Zimbabwe and Namibia from the Africa Qualifier; and Nepal, Oman, and the UAE from the Asia/EAP Qualifier.
President of the Cricket Association of Nepal, Chatur Bahadur Chand, said: “Their [players’] hard work has finally paid off. They have qualified for the T20 World Cup, which is itself a moment of great pride for Nepal.”
In the qualifier in Oman, Nepal started with a 58-run win against Kuwait. In the second game, Nepal defeated Japan by five wickets. In a dramatic clash with the UAE, Nepal won by one run. In another tight encounter with Qatar, Nepal won by five runs. Nepal then beat the hosts, Oman, by 38 runs. Completing an unbeaten campaign, Nepal defeated Samoa by 124 runs in the sixth and final game
Sports analyst and editor of HamroKhelkud.com, Prakash Timalsina, who reported from the field during the series against the West Indies in the UAE and the qualifier in Oman said, “The Nepal team is at a good standard to play against strong teams. We have world-class bowling, but we need to improve in batting.” He said Nepal showed its quality against the Test-playing West Indies and then beat every team in the qualifier, which demonstrates Nepal’s strength. He added, “At the last World Cup we finished on a high, but in the coming World Cup, our team will upset strong teams as well.”
