Follow UsThe Nepal cricket team are making decent progress in international cricket. Not too long ago, they were part of the Asia Cup 2023 (ODI format) and the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA, where they almost beat South Africa.
Nepal have the ODI status and are ranked 18th in the world. Their T20 ranking is 18th, and yet they are not part of the Asia Cup T20 2025, beginning September 9 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Teams ranked lower than Nepal in T20Is i.e. Oman (20) and Hong Kong (24), are part of the clash for Asian supremacy, but the Himalayan nation is missing. The reason for their absence lies in the method by which the teams were selected for the eight-nation tournament.
The top five teams, who have permanent Test and ODI status, were granted direct entry on the basis of their rankings. Thus, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan qualified automatically.
The remaining three teams were selected on the basis of their performance in the 2024 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Men’s Premier Cup.
Nepal, defending champions of the inaugural edition of the Men’s Premier Cup in 2023, were drawn in group A of the 10-team tournament. They had Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia for company.
As expected, the defending champions, although in the ODI format, remained unbeaten at the group stage even in the T20 format. Heading into the knockout round, they met the United Arab Emirates, who had finished second in group B.
Surprisingly, though, Nepal were beaten by the UAE by a big margin of six wickets. They had another chance to win the third-place play-off. However, Hong Kong, whom they had beaten with ease in the group stage, surprised them and chased down the target of 140 with four wickets in hand and three balls to spare.
As it turned out, only the top three teams from the ACC Premier Cup 2024 were able to occupy the remaining three slots in the Asia Cup, and that’s how Nepal missed out on making back-to-back Asia Cup appearances.
The UAE, the winners, Oman, the runners-up, and Hong Kong, the third-placed side, thus secured an Asia Cup 2025 berth for themselves.