Kathmandu, March 2: Nepal defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the final match of the ICC U-19 World Cup Asia Qualifiers and qualified to travel to the Cricket World Cup.
Nepal celebrated their qualification for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024 on Thursday thanks to a thrilling 7-run triumph over UAE in the final match of the Asia Regional Qualifier, thereby sealing their place in next year’s showpiece global event in Sri Lanka.
Nepal has qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2016. Chasing the target of 192 runs given by Nepal for victory, UAE was reduced to 184 runs in 48 overs.
Batting first, Nepal made a stuttering start, losing three wickets early to UAE’s frontline bowlers. Captain Dev Khanal (51 from 84 balls) came to the crease under pressure but stabilised the team in the middle overs before the UAE bowlers, including the impressive Dhruv Parashar (three wickets for 18), fought back once more to bowl the visitors out for 191.
UAE’s opening batters made a solid start in reply, but soon lost three wickets of their own in quick succession, including captain Aayan Khan. Ethan D’Souza (50 from 66 balls) steadied the ship with a measured half-century and looked to have set the foundations for victory, before Kandel returned to storm through the lower order batters, securing a famous victory with a hattrick in the 49th over to skittle UAE for 184.
Kandel earned the Player of the Match Award for his heroics, with figures of five for 31 from his ten overs.
Nepal won all five of the five qualifying matches. Nepal defeated Singapore by 86 in the first match, Kuwait by 243 in the second match, Hong Kong by 9 wickets in the third match and Malaysia by 10 wickets in the fourth match.
Speaking following the match, Nepal Head Coach, Jagat Bahadur Tamara, said, “It felt as though we were twenty runs short when we finished our innings, but we clawed this back thanks to our excellent bowling and fielding.
“Today’s victory caps a hugely successful Qualifier for us. We have come up against a lot of talented cricketers during the past week, but for us to win having gone through the event undefeated highlights the wealth of talent we possess within this team.
“We worked incredibly hard in the build-up to the Qualifier to give ourselves the best possible chance of securing a place at the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024, and we are excited by the prospect of coming up against the strongest teams and the best young players in the world in Sri Lanka next year.”
The ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024 will see the world’s most exciting young talent take to the field, and the event has a rich legacy of forging the future stars of the men’s game. The fifteenth edition of the tournament sees it return to Sri Lanka for the first time since 2006.
With four further Regional Qualifiers to follow in the coming months, attention now turns to the East Asia Pacific Region, where seven teams head to Australia aiming to be the next team to confirm their passage through to the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, including previous qualifiers Fiji, Japan, PNG and New Zealand.
