Asia Cup 2023: Nepal cricket team scripted history as they thumped UAE by 7 wickets in the final of the ACC Premier League to book their berth for the first time in the Asia Cup. They will now join India and Pakistan in the Group A of the tournament.
Bowling first, after winning the toss, they bowled some impeccable lines and lengths and troubled the UAE batters in the high-pressure game. L Rajbanshi made the opposition batters dance to their tones and picked 4 wickets for just 14 runs.
Whereas Sandeep Lamichhane picked and Karan KC bagged two wickets each whereas S Kami and G Jha picked one scalp each as Nepal folded UAE for just 117 runs. For UAE, A Khan was the lone warrior as he scored 46 runs and guided his team to a fighting total.
UAE bowlers then made life difficult for Nepal batters as they made them toil hard for the runs and picked a few early wickets. But the promotion of G Jha at 3 turned out to be a masterstroke as he soaked in all the pressure and played a wonderful inning.
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Jha scored unbeaten 67 runs in 84 balls with the help of 3 fours and 6 sixes and stitched a crucial unbeaten 96 runs partnership with B Sharki, who scored 36 runs in 72 balls. A superlative effort saw them chasing the target in 30.3 overs and qualifying for the first time in Asia Cup.
Asia Cup 2023 to be played in September
The Asia Cup 2023 is around the corner as the event is scheduled to take place in September this year. Overall 6 teams with take part in it and will face each other in 13 games. The teams have been divided into two groups with three each.
India and Pakistan are placed in Group A and will be joined by Nepal, who won the ACC Premier League to qualify for the Asia Cup 2023. Whereas Sri Lanka Bangladesh and Afghanistan will ply their trade in Group B. The tournament is slated to take place in Pakistan but there have been many issues related to the same.
BCCI has objected to going into Pakistan due to security reasons and a hybrid model has been proposed, which suggests that India will play their games in UAE whereas the rest of the tournament will be played in Pakistan. A decision related to the same will be announced soon.
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