Two T20 World Cup places up for grabs as Asia Qualifier Final arrives
Two spots in next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be secured in the seven-day event, with hosts Nepal joined by Bahrain, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates in the tournament.
The teams are split into two groups, from each of which the top two will progress to the semi-finals. The winners of those semi-finals will seal a spot at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next year, with the showpiece final to be held on Sunday 5 November.
“We are excited and humbled to host this prestigious tournament in Nepal and would like to thank the ICC for the trust and faith shown towards us,” Chatur Bahadur Chand, the CEO of the Cricket Association of Nepal, said.
“With an exciting ICC pathway that lies ahead with regards to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next year and Nepal’s home cricket culture with a massive fan base and love for the game, the tournament promises to ignite the passion once again among all our Asian cricket stakeholders. We look forward to an exciting week of cricket.”
The 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup is the first such tournament to be expanded to 20 teams.
And the opportunity to join the world’s top side in the USA and West Indies next year is an exciting one for Nepal’s captain Rohit Kumar Puadel.
“It’s been an incredible journey for the national team over the last six months and we hope to continue this momentum,” he said. “We will do our best to live up to the expectations.
“Our preparations leading up to the World Cup qualifier has been really good and we hope to emulate and keep our home records intact and keep building on our recent performances and successes.
“With dedication, determination and hunger to win, our team is ready, and we aim to qualify and play the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next year. Expectations are high and we want to do it for our fans and everyone associated with Nepal cricket.
“We hope to recreate history once again.”
Nepal have enjoyed terrific success in recent years and go into the tournament as the highest-ranked of the teams competing, currently sitting at 16 in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20 Rankings.
And one of the features of Nepal’s rise to cricketing prominence has been the outstanding atmosphere at the team’s home games – something that the tournament’s organisers are excited to see replicated in the Qualifier Final.
**“**The devoted and sports-loving Nepali fans, along with enthusiasts from across Asia, are in for a thrilling event at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier Final,” Aminul Islam, the ICC’s Regional Development Manager for Asia, said.
“To the participating nations, I extend the warmest wishes from the ICC. We aim for this tournament to embody the true spirit of cricket, showcasing the sportsmanship and camaraderie that the game is celebrated for worldwide.”
Bahrain
Umer Iimtiaz (c), Abdul Majid Abbasi, Imran Ali Butt, Sohail Ahmed, Haider Ali, Imran Javed Anwer, Junaid Aziz, Rizwan Butt, Ali Dawood, Ahmer Bin Naser, Sarfraz Ali, Yasser Nazeer, Sathaiyah Veerapathiran, Sachin Kumar, Sai Sarthak
Hong Kong, China
Nizakat Mohammad Khan (c), Mohammad Aizaz Khan, Babar Hayat, Ehsan Khan, Adit Gorawara, Anshuman Rath, Ayush Shukla, Raag Kapur, Yasim Murtaza, Zeeshan Ali, Mohammad Ghazanfar, Haroon Mohammad Arshad, Nasrulla Rana, Martin Coetzee, Scott Stephen Mckechnie
Kuwait
Mohamed Aslam (c), Ali Zaheer, Usmangani Ibrahim, Bilal Tahir, Yasin Ishak, Ravija Sandaruwan, Meet Bhavsar, Shiraz Khan, Parvindar Kumar, Mirza Ahmed, Sayed Monib, Nimish Lathief, Clinto Velookkaran Anto, Mohamed Shafeeq Manakkadavath, Ilyas Ahmed
Malaysia
Ahmad Faiz Mohammad Noor, Virandeep Singh, Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak, Vijay Unni Suresh Unni, Muhammad Amir Azim Abd Shukor, Rizwan Haider, Khizar Hayat Durrani, Ainool Hafizs Md Yatim, Pavandeep Singh Jagjit Singh, Ahmad Zubaidi Zulkifle, Syazrul Ezat Idrus, Haiqal Mohd Khair, Sharvin Muniyandy, Muhammad Aiman Zaquan Muhammad Ridzuan, Muhammad Fitri Mohd Sham
Nepal
Rohit Kumar Paudel, Mahamad Asif Sheikh, Kushal Bhurtel, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC, Gulshan Kumar Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Binod Bhandari, Bibek Kumar Yadav, Abinash Bohara (Reserves: Lokesh Bahadur Bam, Surya Tamang, Shyam Dhakal, Sagar Dhakal)
Nepal batter Bhim Sharki on his match-defining innings against the USA and playing away from home support at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
Oman
Zeeshan Maqsood, Aaqib Ilyas Sulheri, Kashyapkumar Prajapati, Shoaib Khan, Ayaan Mohammed Khan, Muhammad Nadeem, Muhammad Naseem, Bilal Khan, Ahmad Fayyaz Butt, Kaleemullah, Shakeel Ahmad, Mehran Khan, Prathik Athavale, Sandeep Goud Shreemantula, Siddharth Prasad Bukkapatnam
Oman batter Shoaib Khan impressed again in their victory over UAE at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023
Singapore
Aritra Dutta (c), Rohan Rengarajan, Surendran Chandramohan, Anish Paraam, Manpreet Singh, Janak Prakash, Akshay Roopak Puri, Thilip Omamdurai Thilappan, Ramesh Kalimuthu, Anantha Krishna, Utsav Rakshit, Aaryan Russell Menon, Amartya Kaul, Aryaveer Chaudhary, Harsha Bharadwaj
United Arab Emirates
Muhammad Waseem, Aryansh Sharma, Alishan Sharafu, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Asif Khan, Aayan Khan, Ali Naseer, Karthik Meiyappan, Sanchit Sharma, Zahoor Khan, Muhammad Jawadullah, Nilansh Keswani, Khalid Shah, Vriitya Aravind
30 October
- United Arab Emirates v Bahrain, 9:00 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
- Nepal v Singapore, 9:00 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Oman v Malaysia, 13:30 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Hong Kong, China v Kuwait, 13:30 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
31 October
- Singapore v Oman, 09:00 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Bahrain v Hong Kong, China, 09:00 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
- Malaysia v Nepal, 13:30 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Kuwait v United Arab Emirates, 13:30 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
2 November
- Nepal v Oman, 09:00 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Hong Kong, China v United Arab Emirates, 09:00 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
- Singapore v Malaysia, 13:30 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Bahrain v Kuwait, 13:30 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
3 November
- Semi-final 1: A1 v B2, 11:00 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
- Semi-final 2: B1 v A2, 11:00 (local), Mulpani Cricket Stadium
5 November
- Final: winner semi-final 1 v winner semi-final 2, 11:00 (local), Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur
All matches will be available to watch live on FanCode (India) and ICC.tv (UK and rest of the world).
It is free to Sign Up to ICC.tv.
You can then watch ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 Qualifiers live and FREE on ICC.tv in all regions (other than Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan) on:
* ICC.tv website* ICC.tv mobile apps (available in the App Store and Google Play)
* Samsung TV and LG TV apps