Nepal and Oman became two teams from Asia qualifiers as they defeated their opponents on 3rd November 2023. United Arab Emirates captain Muhammed Waseem won the toss and decided to bat first. The captain led from the front putting pressure on Nepal bowling right from the word go not allowing them to settle. Sompal Kami produced a stunning run out to dismiss Khalid Shah. Kami struck again to get rid of UAE captain Waseem. At the end of the first six overs, UAE scored 41 for 2.
Vritiya Arvind looked in great touch keeping the scoreboard while Nepal bowlers kept it tight and took wickets at regular intervals not allowing them to score runs easily. Despite Arvind’s brilliance, UAE could only score 134 for 8 in 20 overs. For Nepal, Kushal Malla took 3 wickets, Lammichhane 2 for 14 while Kami and Rohit Paudel took 1 wicket each while 2 batters were run out.
Chasing 135 runs to win, it was an aggressive start as Aasif Sheikh put pressure on the UAE bowling. Bhurtel was dismissed cheaply. Gulshan Jha and Aasif Sheikh kept the momentum going for Nepal putting on 41 runs for the 2nd wicket. Sheikh looked impressive putting pressure on UAE bowlers along with captain Rohit Paudel. It was a superb batting effort by Nepal batters as they won the match by 8 wickets with 17 balls to spare.
With this victory, Nepal progressed into the prestigious 2024 T20 World Cup to be played in the West Indies and the United States of America. It is a historic moment for Nepal cricket as they qualified for Asia Cup 2023 for the first time.
Oman also progressed into the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with a dominating win over Bahrain in the first semi-finals to be played in Katmandu, Nepal on 3rd November. It was a superb bowling effort by Oman bowlers as they restricted Bahrain to just 106 for 9 and chased down the target without losing any wickets with 34 balls to spare.
18 Teams Qualified For the Mega Event
A total of 18 teams made it into the T20 World Cup 2024 to be played in the West Indies and the United States of America.
Nepal would be qualifying in the T20 World Cup after 2012 while Oman made it into the qualifying rounds in the 2021 edition.
The last two spots will be decided during the African qualifiers that will take place from 22nd to 30th November 2023 in Namibia.
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