Nepal, Oman make it to 2024 T20 World Cup

Nepal (in pic) and Oman have qualified for the ICC T20 World Cup to be played in the West Indies and USA in 2024.

The two teams cleared the Asia Qualifier hurdle on Friday, much to the thrill of the local Nepalese crowd that came out in large numbers to back their team which defeated United Arab Emirates (UAE) by eight wickets in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier semi-finals at Mulpani Cricket Ground in Kathmandu.

Oman thrashed Bahrain by 10 wickets in the other semi-final to also guarantee a spot in the T20 World Cup to be played between June 4 and 30 next year and will feature 20 teams.

Canada from the Americas, Papua New Guinea from the East Asia-Pacific region and Scotland and Ireland from Europe had already made it to next year’s T20 World Cup.

Only two teams from Africa are yet to be known as the Africa Qualifier ends on November 30.

The two newly-qualified teams from Asia will face off in the Asia Qualifier final on Sunday.

“It has been nine years since Nepal have qualified for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the last event they participated in was in Bangladesh 2014; while Oman will play in their third event, their last appearance being in 2021 when they co-hosted alongside the UAE in India’s stead,” said a statement from the International Cricket Council.

The semi-final matches

Nepal restricted the visitors, who won the toss and elected to bat first, to 134/9 in their allotted 20 overs, in spite of an obstinate, 51-ball 64 (8x4s, 2x6s) from Vriitya Aravind. Opener and skipper, Muhammad Waseem contributed the next best figures with the bat, with 26 from 16 deliveries.

Kushal Malla was Nepal’s chief wicket-taker, returning outstanding figures of three for 11 from just three overs, with Sandeep Lamichhane chipping in with 2/14 in his four-over spell.

In reply, Nepal’s wicket-keeper and eventual Player of the Match, Aasif Sheikh (64* off 51) and captain, Rohit Paudel (34* off 20) shared an unbeaten 68-run partnership for the third wicket to seal the victory for their team with 17 balls to spare.

In Kirtipur, Bahrain slipped to 106/9 after electing to bat first, thanks to a dazzling four-wicket haul by Aqib Iiyas (4/10) and good back-up from Shakeel Ahmed (2/24). Imran Ali, Ahmer Bin Nisar and Sarfaraz Ali scored 30, 26 and 23 respectively, but no one was able to take their cause further.

Oman reached their target in 14.2 overs thanks to half-centuries from openers, Kashyap Prajapati (57 off 44) and Pratik Athavale (50 off 42), winning the match with 34 balls to spare.

Brief scores (Nepal vs UAE)

Nepal 135/2 in 17.1 Overs (Aasif Sheikh 64*, Basil Hameed 1-18) beat UAE 134/9 in 20.0 Overs (Vriitya Aravind 64, Kushal Malla 3-11) by 8 wickets.

Brief scores (Oman vs Bahrain)

Oman 109/0 in 14.2 Overs (Kashyap Prajapati 57*, Pratik Athavale 50*, Junaid Aziz 0-12) beat Bahrain 106/9 in 20.0 Overs (Imran Ali 30, Aqib Ilyas 4-10) by 10 wickets.

Cricket, T20 World Cup, World Cup, Nepal, Oman, UAE, Bahrain