Nepal and Oman won their respective semi-finals at the ICC’s Asia region qualifiers to book their spots at the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup.
While Oman routed Bahrain by ten wickets, Nepal overcame UAE in a tricky chase to win by eight wickets.
Aqib Ilyas took a four-wicket haul, giving away just ten runs in the process, to help Oman restrict Bahrain to 106 for 9. Openers Kashyap Prajapati and Pratik Athavale pulled off the chase without fuss, finishing the job with under six overs to spare.
For Nepal, frugal spells from spinners Kushal Malla and Sandeep Lamichhane kept UAE down to 134 for 9. Vriitya Aravind hit a half-century, but found little support from the other UAE batters. Nepal opener Aasif Sheikh then hit an unbeaten 64 to seal victory for his team.
With Nepal and Oman qualifying for the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be held across the West Indies and the USA next year, 18 teams have finalised their spots. The final two spots will be decided at the Africa qualifier, which will conclude at the end of the month.
While hosts West Indies and USA have automatic berths, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Netherlands, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka qualified by virtue of being the top eight teams in the 2022 edition of the competition. Afghanistan and Bangladesh were the two next-highest-ranked teams in the format and, as a result, sealed their spots. Ireland and Scotland have since qualified from the Europe region qualifiers, while Papua New Guinea made it from the East Asia-Pacific region and Canada from the Americas region.
