World Cup qualifiers in Nepal

Chatur Bahadur Chand, president of Nepal Cricket Association (CAN), said that ICC has given responsibility to Nepal to organize the T-20 World Cup Qualifying Tournament in the Asia region from November 1 to 10. Along with Nepal, UAE, Oman, Hong Kong, Bahrain and Singapore are competing in Asian selection. The remaining two will come through the selection stage.

The participating teams are divided into two groups and the top two teams of the group will reach the semi-finals. Chand informed that the team that reaches the finals will make a place in the World Cup to be held in the American continent next year. According to him, the matches of the tournament will be held at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur and Mulpani Cricket Ground. Mulpani Cricket Ground was used for the recently concluded ACC Premier League Cup.

"The ICC sent an email on Wednesday and confirmed that it is going to allow Nepal to host the tournament. It has already informed the other participating countries that it is going to host the Asia Qualifiers of the T-20 World Cup in Nepal," CAN President Chand said. They emphasized that more facilities should be added. We have time for that, we will add that facility.

According to Chand, the UAE also showed its claim to host the tournament, but since it had hosted the World Cup qualifiers to the Asia Cup in the past, the ICC said that this time it was Nepal's turn. "The ICC Asia team wanted the tournament to be held in Nepal this time, a letter has been sent to us according to that, agreements on various topics will be made later," said Chand.

6 months ago, ICC assigned Nepal the responsibility of hosting the ICC U-19 Women's World Cup in 2027 along with Bangladesh, and has also given Nepal the hosting of the T-20 World Cup Qualifiers. For the first time, Nepal is going to organize such a big tournament of ICC.

Chand said this month that Nepal has claimed for the T-20 World Cup in the Asia region. Two weeks ago, Nepal's claim gained strength after successfully hosting the ACC Premier Cup, which included 10 nations. Last year, Zimbabwe and Oman hosted the T-20 World Cup qualifiers held as part of the Global Qualifiers.

Nepal had earlier organized World Cricket League Division 5 in 2010. In the World Cricket League Championship, Nepal hosted a match against Namibia in 2016 and Kenya in 2017. Apart from that, in the 2019-23 circle of World Cup League 2 of the ICC tournament, Nepal organized a triangular series of matches between USA and Oman in 2020 and Namibia and Scotland in 2023 and UAE and Papua New Guinea.

Chand also said that ICC Asia will come to Nepal to inspect the ICC team for the Asian Qualifiers of the T-20 World Cup. The ICC Asia team will organize the tournament. CAN president Chand said that there was also a discussion on the telephone with the development manager of ICC Asia, Aminul Islam.

Hosts West Indies and America have been directly qualified for the 2024 World Cup. In the last T-20 World Cup held in Australia in 2022, the top 8 nations of Australia, England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka have also qualified for the next year's T-20 World Cup. Apart from that, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who are at the top of the World T-20 rankings, have also booked their ticket to the American continent.

For the first time, 20 nations are playing in the T-20 World Cup. Along with Asia, 2-2 teams from Africa and Europe and 1-1 teams selected from America and East Asia Pacific region will compete in the World Cup organized by America and West Indies.