Nepal squad: Rohit Paudel (c), Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Malla, Kushal Bhurtel, Kishore Mahato, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Aarif Sheikh, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Sompal Kami, Mousom Dhakal, Sundeep Jora, Pratish GC, Arjun Saud
Photo: NepalCricket/Instagram

The excitement for the T20 World Cup 2024 is on. The tournament will be played in the USA and the Caribbean and it’ll be for the first time since 2007 when the tournament will be hosting 20 teams. The teams will be divided into four groups with five teams each. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 8s. The final of the event is slated to take place on June 30, 2024

Nepal Scripts history as they qualify for T20 World Cup 2024 in USA and Caribbean 

T20 World Cup
Nepal qualifies for the T20 World Cup 2024 | Google

Nepal cricket team have scripted history as they for the first time qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024. They thumped the United Arab Emirates by eight wickets in the semifinal of the Asian qualifiers and booked their berth in the mega event set to take place next year in June. 

Nepal played a staggering brand of cricket throughout the Asian qualifiers. Their best game in the semi-final against UAE. They were asked to field first and it was a great effort from the with the ball. Nepal kept things tight with the ball and put pressure on the opposition. 

Kushal Malla picked three wickets and was the pick of the bowlers for his team. Sandeep Lamichhane bagged two scalps whereas Sompal Kami and Rohit Paudel also chipped as they restricted the United Arab Emirates to a total of just 139 runs. With the bat, Vriitya Aravind (64) was the run scorer. 

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In the second innings, Nepal looked a class apart with the bat. Opener Kushel Bhurtel (11) lost his wicket early. But his partner Aasif Sheikh (64*) made sure that he stayed there till the very end. He got good support from Gulshan Jha (22) and Rohit Paudel (34*) as they chased the target with 8 wickets in hand. 

This will be Nepal’s maiden outing in the T20 World Cup. Since the last few years, they have risen in the ranks a lot. They recently played in Asia Cup 2023 as well. Although they lost to India and Pakistan but the brand of cricket that they played was lauded by many.

Playing T20 World Cup 2024 will give them a lot of exposure as they will be up against some of the best teams in the World. The crowd support that they had during the qualifiers of the T20 World Cup was unmatchable. Fans came in chunks to support them. 

Apart from Nepal, Oman also qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024. They thrashed Bahrain by 10 wickets to seal the spot. A total of 18 teams so have qualified for the tournament and two more spots are to be filled more.