Last Updated on 2 years by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Nepal qualifies for Asia Cup by beating UAE in ACC Premier Cup final | Nepal qualify for 2023 Asia Cup
Nepal has qualified for the 2023 Asia Cup by beating the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the reserve day of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Premier Cup final on Tuesday. Nepal played a masterstroke by promoting Gulshan Jha higher up the batting order at number three to score 67 off 84 including three boundaries and six sixes to help his team manoeuver a potentially tricky chase of 118 in merely 31 overs after a shaky start.
Bhim Sharki played a fine hand at number five, notching 36 off 72 deliveries and preventing any further fall of wickets to safely steer the Nepalese team to the mega tournament.
Nepal qualify for 2023 Asia Cup: Bowlers deliver in spades
Earlier, Nepal restricted UAE for 117 in 34 overs with Lalit Rajbhanshi starring with the ball. The bowler scalped four dismissals in seven overs whilst conceding only 14 runs in his total spell. Karan KC took two wickets and so did Sandeep Lamichhane to ensure that UAE were pulled back to a below-par total.
“We are the CHAMPIONS of the #ACCPremierCup! A day filled with pride and the players filled with passion! Nepal beats UAE to progress through to the Asia Cup with a fantastic performance from Nepal,” a tweet from the official handle of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) read.
None of the players managed to step up with the bat for UAE except Asif Khan, who top scored by hitting 46 off 54 deliveries. Lamichhane was awarded the Player of the Tournament as Nepal prepares to enter the big stage taking a giant leap through this victory.
Nepal will be occupying the third and the final spot in Group A, comprising two other bigwigs in India and Pakistan. Meanwhile, Nepal, UAE and Oman finishing at the top three spots in the Premier Cup will now enable them to also participate in the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in July. They will be playing against the ‘A’ teams of the other five full-member nations, i.e. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
