Living the World Cup dream: Nepal make a thrilling return, and USA and Uganda announce their arrival
The year 2023 started with Nepal conjuring 12 miracles to make it to the ODI World Cup qualifiers and ended with them qualifying for the T20 World Cup for the first time in a decade. In the group stage of the World Cup Asia Qualifier, they beat Singapore and Malaysia and made it to the knockouts despite losing to Oman. In the semi-final, they met old foes UAE, who were entering the knockouts unbeaten. In front of a packed home crowd, Nepal restricted UAE to 134 for 9 and made it to the final with eight wickets and 17 balls to spare, which also confirmed their qualification for the T20 World Cup. They lost to Oman in the final in the Super Over, but their World Cup ticket was secured.
Key players
Rohit Paudel was Nepal's leading run-scorer in T20Is last year, with 403 runs in 13 innings at an average of 50.37. The Nepal captain is also going into the T20 World Cup in prime form having scored 265 runs in four innings, which included a century and two fifties against a West Indies A side that had bowlers of international repute.
Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal's highest run-getter in T20Is with 1626 runs in 56 innings, has had a stunning 12 months. Last year against Mongolia he broke the T20 record for the fastest fifty, getting there in just nine balls. More recently, he smashed six sixes in an over in a T20I against Qatar. Airee is also a handy offspinner. with 37 T20I wickets, and is an electric fielder to boot.
Kushal Malla, just 20 years old, holds the record for the second-fastest century in T20Is, getting there in 34 balls, against Mongolia last year. He had an excellent 2023 where he scored 402 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 193.26. Malla also bowls left-arm spin and has 19 wickets at an economy of 6.18 in T20Is.
Nepal in major tournaments
This is Nepal's first T20 World Cup appearance since 2014. They made it to the 2023 ODI World Cup qualifiers last year, but couldn't make it to the main event. In 2023, Nepal also qualified for the Asia Cup for the first time in history but failed to register a win in two attempts.
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