Needless to say, the ICC Women's Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifier is the biggest tournament Nepal has ever hosted. It is also the first time Nepal is playing in a global qualifier in women's cricket. Nepal made this journey by defeating the UAE in the semi-finals of the Asia Regional Qualifier held in Thailand last May.

Nepal has entered the global qualifiers for the first time, bringing the biggest tournament to Nepali soil. Along with Nepal, 10 nations including Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Scotland, Thailand, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Namibia and the United States are competing in the tournament. Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland are Test-recognized nations. A full team from a Test-recognized nation is coming to Nepal to play for the first time.

‘We have worked hard to reach this point and are equally excited to play against big nations,’ Nepal captain Indu Burma said at the pre-match conference on Saturday, ‘It is also a matter of pride for Nepal to host such a big tournament. We will try to give our best performance on the field.’ Entry to the tournament is free for spectators. 

Nepal, which is in Group ‘B’, will start the tournament by playing against Thailand on Sunday afternoon. It will then play against the Netherlands on January 22, Zimbabwe on January 24 and Scotland on January 26.

Nepal is set to play Zimbabwe and Scotland for the first time. Zimbabwe is in the running to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. The matches of the tournament will be held at Kirtipur and the Upper Mulpani grounds. All of Nepal's matches are scheduled for Kirtipur. The Netherlands and Zimbabwe are competing in the second match of the first day in Kirtipur today.

Group 'A' consists of Bangladesh, Ireland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and the United States. The top 3 teams from both groups will advance to the Super Six. After facing each other in the Super Six, the top four teams will advance to the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in England and Wales in June-July. 

The practice matches with Ireland and the United States have already shown that Nepal will face a big challenge to perform well in the competition. Among the 10 participating teams, Nepal is ninth and the United States is 10th in the Women's T20 International rankings. Nepal was defeated by the same United States by 6 wickets in the second practice match on Friday. 

Nepal lost by 99 runs in the first practice match against Ireland. Captain Indu says that the practice match helped the Nepali team understand the level of the opponent. The captains of other teams have almost the same opinion, ‘The two practice matches have helped their team a lot to get used to the field here.’

Nepal’s first opponent Thailand has already played in the Twenty20 World Cup in 2020. At one time, Nepal was much higher than Thailand. But now Nepal has not been able to defeat Thailand since 2011. Last year, when the Thai team came to Kathmandu, Nepal suffered defeat in all three matches of the triangular series.