Nepal wins T20 World Cup qualifiers title by defeating Samoa

Kathmandu – Nepal has won the ICC T20 Asia and East Asia-Pacific Qualifiers title by defeating Samoa.

Nepal defeated Samoa by 124 runs in the final match of the qualifiers held at Al Emirates Stadium in Oman today. Chasing a target of 212 runs set by Nepal, Samoa could only score 87 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. Samoa’s Sean Sonia top-scored with 40 runs. Nepal’s Lalit Rajbanshi took 3 wickets and Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took 1 wicket each.

Earlier, Nepal, who had lost the toss and elected to bat, scored 211 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs. Nepal’s Asif Sheikh and Dipendra Singh Airi scored half-centuries. Asif was dismissed for 69 and Dipendra for 53. This is Asif’s personal highest score in T20 international cricket. Earlier, he had scored 68 runs in the match against West Indies. Similarly, Lokesh Bam scored 39 runs and captain Rohit Paudel scored 21 runs. 4 bowlers from Samoa took 1 wicket each.

Nepal won the title by remaining undefeated. In the Super Six, Nepal finished top with 10 points from 5 matches. Similarly, Oman finished second with 8 points from 5 matches. UAE finished third with 6 points from 5 matches.

Nepal, Oman and UAE have reached the Super Sixes. Qatar, Japan and Samoa failed to advance. With this, all the teams that will play in the T20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka next year have been decided.