It will not be easy for Nepal to defeat Scotland, who already have World Cup experience.
What you should know
Nepal and Scotland will have one similarity when they face off on Monday in the Women's Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifiers.
Both teams seem to be strangers to each other. This is the first time Nepal and Scotland are going to face each other. It is not that these two teams have not played in the practice match before the start of the competition.
But both teams know that this match will set the direction of the previous round. Nepal may not be able to reach the Super Six by defeating Scotland. Therefore, Nepal is in the race to defeat Scotland by a big margin. It will not be easy for Nepal to defeat Scotland, who already have the experience of the World Cup.
The equation of Nepal reaching the Super Six has been revived after the entire nation won by 6 wickets on Saturday against Zimbabwe. After Pooja Mahato scored an unbeaten 52 runs, Nepal was chasing a victory target of 130 runs in the match against Zimbabwe. A confident Pooja said after the match, "Nepal had come close to the target of 140 runs in the previous matches, 130 is nothing."
Nepal had lost to Thailand by 8 wickets and to the Netherlands by 2 runs in the first two matches. Chasing a target of 141 runs against the Netherlands, it fell short at the last minute. Although Samjhana Khadka and Bindu Rawal gave a great start, Nepal had to waste their chances when the middle-order batsmen were dismissed one after another. But in the match against Zimbabwe, Pooja and captain Indu Burma controlled the same middle-order and gave Nepal a historic victory.
Defeating Nepal will ensure Scotland's Super Six journey. Group 'B' Ireland has already reached the Super Six by winning all 3 matches. Scotland and Thailand are in second and third place respectively with 2 wins in 3 matches. Nepal has 2 points from 3 matches. Zimbabwe has returned home after losing all matches.
The next match of this group will be between the Netherlands and Thailand on Monday. If Nepal can defeat Scotland, the result of this match will also affect Nepal's chances of advancing to the next round. The Netherlands has already reached the Super Six by winning the first 3 matches. If Nepal defeats Scotland and the Netherlands defeats Thailand, Scotland and Thailand will have 4 points along with Nepal, and in this case, the two teams with the best run rate will reach the Super Six.
After losing to the Netherlands by 7 runs in the first match, Scotland then defeated Zimbabwe and Thailand by 5 wickets each. Nepal was able to defeat Zimbabwe in the Women's Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifiers for the first time. Scotland, on the other hand, has already qualified for the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup.
After the victory over Zimbabwe, Nepal coach Harshal Pathak said about the chances of reaching the second round, ‘I haven’t done any multiplication, but we have a good chance of reaching the second round, the next game in this group will also be meaningful for us. But it’s not all in our hands. All we have to do is play to the best of our ability.’
