The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has lent a helping hand to the Nepal National Cricket Team, as they have arranged a tri-series between Baroda, Nepal, and Gujarat. The tri-series between the three teams will be played under the name of the Friendship Cup.
The series will kick off on March 31, 2024, and the final match will be played on April 7, 2024. This series will provide great cricketing exposure to the Nepali cricketers ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup, set to take place in June in the West Indies and USA. Nepal is one of the associate teams that qualified for this year’s 20-team T20 World Cup.
Baroda, led by Krunal Pandya, is a strong contender in the tri-series, poised to provide formidable competition for Nepal after reaching the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final and narrowly losing to Punjab in a thrilling last-ball encounter. The Baroda based team boasts the likes of Vishnu Solanki, Lukman Meriwala, and Krunal Pandya, and all these players have pretty strong records in the Indian domestic cricket scene. But, it’s not yet known how many players will be available to play in the Friendship Cup since IPL 2024 is expected to start on March 22.
Talking about the 2024 T20 World Cup, Nepal is a part of Group D, which includes Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and South Africa. Nepal are the weakest team in Group D, but since some changes have been made in the format of the 2024 T20 World Cup, the Asian team has the potential to upset the biggest cricketing nations.
The 2024 T20 World Cup is all set to commence on June 1, and Nepal will face the Netherlands in their opening encounter on June 4. Then they will face South Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
This year, some changes have been made in the format of the T20 World Cup, as the 20 participating teams will be divided into 4 groups of 5 teams each. India and Pakistan are part of Group A, along with Ireland, Canada, and the USA.
Defending Champions England is part of Group B, which consists of arch-rivals Australia, Namibia, Scotland, and Oman. Group C consists of the co-hosts, the West Indies, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Uganda, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are part of Group D along with South Africa, Nepal, and the Netherlands.
The teams that manage to finish in the top two of each group will qualify for the Super Eight stage, where the qualified teams will get divided into two groups, which will consist of four teams each. The Super 8 draw will be decided on the basis of the pre-tournament seedings of the participating teams, and their finishing positions of 1st and 2nd in the group stage will not be considered for the Super 8 draw. Each participating team will have a fixed group for the Super 8 stage at the start of the tournament.
The teams that finish in the top 2 of their respective Super-8 groups will qualify for the Semi-Finals, and the winners of Semi-Finals 1 & 2 will compete against each other in the Final of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.
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Source – ICC Official