Kathmandu, November 14
In a historic achievement, Nepal’s U-19 women’s cricket team has qualified for the ICC Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup for the first time, stunning host UAE in the process.
Although Nepal’s senior men’s team has participated in the T20 World Cup twice and the U-19 men’s team has reached the World Cup eight times, no Nepali women’s team had qualified for a World Cup until now. While the senior women’s team fell short in earlier qualifiers, the U-19 team has broken through this year.
Nepal entered the Asia qualifiers in the UAE aiming for a World Cup berth. Only one team from the four participating teams—Kuwait, Nepal, Thailand, and UAE—could secure a spot in the World Cup.
Despite winning against other teams, Nepal suffered a 13-run loss to UAE in the double round-robin qualifiers. To secure their World Cup spot, they needed not only to defeat UAE in their second match but also to surpass them in net run rate.
In Wednesday’s decisive game, if Nepal batted first, they needed to score 140 runs and win by at least a 21-run margin, or if chasing, reach the target within 16.1 overs.
UAE won the toss and chose to bat, giving Nepal the task of restricting them to a low total. Nepal’s bowlers rose to the challenge, holding UAE to just 83 runs and taking nine wickets.
The game at Dubai’s Sevens Stadium saw UAE opting to bat first, but Nepal struck early, taking wickets consistently to curb their momentum. Krishma Gurung took four wickets, while Riya Sharma and Seema KC each claimed two, helping Nepal restrict UAE to 83/9 in 20 overs. UAE’s captain, Samaira Dharnidharka, top-scored with 31, followed by Rinitha Rajith with 20.
Gurung’s critical 18th over, where she dismissed three players, slowed UAE’s scoring pace. She finished with figures of 4-1-17-4, while Riya and Seema gave away 12 and 18 runs, respectively, in their four-over spells.
Chasing a target of 84, Nepal started aggressively, scoring 10 runs in the first over and maintaining momentum to secure victory in 16 overs, marking a milestone qualification for the World Cup.
With Nepal’s qualification from Asia, all 16 teams set to compete in the U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup have been confirmed. The tournament is scheduled to take place in Malaysia from January 18 to February 7, featuring the top 10 teams from the previous edition and host Malaysia, who qualified automatically.
