Nepal has celebrated its qualification for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup by becoming the Asia-East Asia Pacific Qualifier champions. Nepal became the winner after defeating Samoa by 124 runs in the final match of the Super Sixes of the tournament being held in Oman on Friday.

This is the biggest title Nepal has won in the competitions organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In October 2018, Nepal won the Eastern Region of the Asia qualifiers for the Twenty20 World Cup in Malaysia. 

‘The last two matches were very easy for us, it was not a heart-breaking match like the previous one. We did well in bowling and fielding and the competition went well,’ Nepal captain Rohit Poudel told the official broadcasters, ‘The last two weeks have been very tense. I am proud of the way our team played.’

Stating that it would be a great opportunity for Nepal to play the World Cup against India on Indian soil, Rohit said, ‘We will now play the World Cup in India, so we would love to play against India. We would also like to play against some other big teams including Australia and England.’

Nepal had already secured a place in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka with 8 points after winning the previous three matches. Twenty nations will participate in the World Cup to be held from February 7 to March 8.

Nepal qualified for the T20 World Cup for the first time in 2013 by finishing third. Ten years later, Nepal made its comeback to the T20 World Cup when it finished runner-up in the Asian qualifiers held in Kathmandu. Along with Nepal, Oman and the UAE had also secured their place in the T20 World Cup. 

This time, Nepal is undefeated and has won 10 points. Oman has 8 points and the UAE has 6 points. Nepal has surpassed Oman by 2 points after defeating Samoa. Nepal has won all its matches in the 9-nation tournament. Nepal had defeated Kuwait and Japan in the group stage. Then, it defeated the UAE, Qatar and Oman in the Super Six. 

Samoa, having been set a target of 212 runs, could only score 87 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Opener Sean Solia scored the highest 40 runs. He hit 2 fours and 1 six in 37 balls. Benjamin Mailata scored 11 runs. Lalit Rajbanshi took 3 wickets. He gave away 13 runs in 4 overs, including 1 maiden. Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane and Rohit 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 allotted 20 overs at the Al Emirates Cricket Stadium. Nepal made 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.

Player of the Match Asif scored 69 runs. This is Asif's highest score in Twenty20 Internationals. He 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 competition, was dismissed after scoring 9 runs including 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 played 11 balls and scored 22 runs including 1 four and a six, while Lokesh Bam remained unbeaten on 39 runs including 2 fours and 4 sixes in 12 balls.