Two years ago, Nepal qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup by defeating the UAE, and after that, the UAE reached the Asia Cup by defeating Nepal.
What you should know
Two contenders Nepal and UAE are facing each other in the Super League on Sunday in the World Twenty20 Asia-East Asia Pacific Qualifier. This match between Nepal and UAE has been called 'El Clasico' like the competition between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Spanish league football.
The match between Nepal and UAE has become more than a major rivalry as the team that wins this match will have a strong chance of reaching the World Cup in the tournament being held in Muscat, Oman. Two years ago, Nepal returned to the Twenty20 World Cup after defeating the UAE in the semi-finals of the Asia Qualifiers of the Twenty20 World Cup at Moolpani.
Nepal reached the Super League as the winner of Group 'B', UAE Group 'A'. In the last match of the league on Friday, the home team Oman, which was in a very difficult position at the beginning, after defeating Papua New Guinea by 52 runs, made a good run rate and surpassed Nepal and UAE. The participating 9 nations were divided into three groups and the top two teams from each group advanced to the Super League. In the
Super League, teams from one group have to compete against four teams from the other two teams. The top three teams will then qualify for the Twenty20 World Cup in India in February-March. Oman, Nepal and UAE have a very strong chance of making the top 3 as they won the group and got a bonus 2 points.
When the Super League starts on Sunday, these three teams will move closer to the Twenty20 World Cup if they win on the first day. Nepal won their group by defeating Kuwait and Japan and UAE in the group stage against Qatar and Malaysia. UAE were desperate to chase down the 199 runs scored by Qatar in the first day's match on Wednesday. In the same field, in the next match, Nepal also had a batting test against Kuwait.
Although UAE batted well in the next match against Malaysia, Nepal's batting and bowling were tested against Japan. If you look at it from another point of view, Nepal is playing the game according to its opponent. Therefore, Nepal is expected to return its natural game in the Super League.
Nepal has defeated UAE 3 times in the last five Twenty20 internationals. But a year and a half ago, when Nepal lost to the UAE in the ACC Men's Premier Cup, Nepal was deprived of qualifying for the Asia Cup for the second time in a row. Nepal and UAE are going to meet on the same ground in Oman on Sunday. The score of 119-9 made by Nepal was completed by UAE before 16 balls.
Alison Sarafu scored an unbeaten 55 off 41 balls to give the UAE victory. Sarafu is in excellent form this time. He scored an unbeaten 51 against Qatar and 34 against Malaysia. Captain Mohammad Wasim has also returned to form ahead of the Super League. After Wasim scored 84 runs in 53 balls, the UAE scored 167 runs in 4 balls before the 162 runs given by Malaysia on the difficult pitch of Muscat.
Nepal, which entered the group stage without the main all-rounder Karan KC, is at stake to hold the edge in bowling before the Super League. After scoring 131 runs against Nepal on Friday, Japan, which is considered weak, has raised concerns about Nepal's bowling. Even though 150-160 runs on the wicket of All Emirates is considered a good score, Nepal managed to score only 141 runs in the match against Kuwait.
That was also possible after Gulsan Jha hit 3 consecutive sixes and Nepal scored 27 runs in the 19th over. It was Gulson who performed all-round against Japan on Friday and secured Nepal with 2 extra points in the Super League. Gulson, who returned to bowling after a long time when Nepal's leading bowlers were out of the game, took 2 important wickets and brought Nepal back into the game.
