Nepal emerged victorious after defeating Samoa by 124 runs in the final match on Friday.
What you should know
Nepal, which has qualified for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, has celebrated double happiness by winning the Twenty20 Asia-East Asia Pacific qualifiers. Nepal became the winner after defeating Samoa by 124 runs in the final match on Friday.
This is the biggest tournament that Nepal has won in the competitions organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In October 2018, Nepal won the Eastern Regional Tournament organized for the Asia qualifiers for the Twenty20 World Cup in Malaysia.
Nepal had already qualified for the 20-nation ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8 with 8 points after winning the previous three matches of the Super Sixes of the tournament being held in Oman.
When it qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup for the first time in 2013, it came third in the global qualifiers held in the UAE. 10 years later, Nepal came second in the Asia qualifiers held in Kathmandu in its return to the Twenty20 World Cup.
Along with Nepal, Oman and the UAE had also secured their place in the Twenty20 World Cup. Nepal has accumulated 10 points by becoming the winner by remaining undefeated. Oman has 8 points and UAE has 6 points. Nepal defeated Samoa to leave Oman behind by 2 points.
Samoa, who had set a target of 212 runs, could only score 87 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Opener Sean Solia scored the highest score of 40 runs in 37 balls. He hit 2 fours and 1 six in his innings. Benjamin Mailata scored 11 runs. Lalit Rajbanshi took 3 wickets. He gave away 13 runs in 4 overs with 1 maiden. Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane and captain Rohit Poudel took 1 wicket each.
Earlier, Nepal, who were invited to bat after losing the toss, scored 211 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Nepal scored a huge score after Asif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel put on 61 runs in the first 6 overs of the power play to give Nepal an aggressive start. Bhurtel was dismissed for 17 runs in 15 balls, including 2 fours and 1 six. Asif scored 69 runs. This is his highest score in Twenty20 Internationals. He had scored 68 runs against the West Indies in Sharjah last month. Asif hit 7 fours and 4 sixes in 41 balls. Asif's brother Arif, who got his first chance in the tournament, was dismissed for 9 runs with 2 fours. Dipendra Singh Airi scored 53 runs. He hit 2 fours and 4 sixes in 33 balls. Nepal had scored 79 runs in the last 5 overs. Rohit remained unbeaten on 22 off 11 balls, including 1 four and 1 six, while Lokesh Bam remained unbeaten on 39 off 12 balls, including 2 fours and 4 sixes.
