The winners of the round-robin tournament will be selected for the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2026
Nepal is playing its first match against UAE in the ICC U-19 World Cup Asia Qualifier on Sunday. This match will be played at the lower cricket ground of Moolpani. An international cricket match is going to be held on this ground for the first time.
Nepal and UAE along with Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Oman will compete in the tournament to be held at Moolpani until April 19. All matches of the
tournament will be held at the upper and lower cricket grounds of Mulpani. The winners of the round-robin tournament will qualify for the 2026 ICC U-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia. Nepal had prepared for the tournament by playing three youth one-day matches with Afghanistan U-19. Nepal was defeated by 2-1.
The UAE U-19 team, which arrived in Nepal 5 days ago, defeated the alternative team of Nepal U-19 while playing a practice match. The Nepali team reached the U-19 World Cup two years ago by defeating the UAE in a decisive match.
After UAE, Nepal will play Oman on Monday, Hong Kong on Wednesday and Afghanistan on Saturday. The team with the most points in the round robin league will be the winner and advance to the U-19 World Cup. Nepal entered the Super Six by defeating Afghanistan in the U-19 World Cup held in South Africa last year. After getting out of the group stage, Test-recognized Afghanistan has now come to play in the Asia Qualifiers.
Nepal is about to host the U-19 World Cup qualifiers for the third time. Earlier, Nepal reached the U-19 World Cup by winning the ACC U-19 Cup, which was held twice at home in 2001 and 2005. Nepal has played the U-19 World Cup eight times.
