Nepal would not meet Afghanistan and the UAE in the group stage of the ACC T20 Cup to be held in Kathmandu from March 25 to April 3.
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is yet to publish the draw of the tournament, it is almost sure Nepal would avoid the UAE and Afghanistan in the group stage as ACC usually divides group as per the seeding given to the teams based on the ACC Trophy Elite.
Nepal and the UAE had shared the title of the ACC Trophy Elite held in the UAE three months ago with a tie result in the final. However, Nepal gets the top seeding for the T20 tournament as the host and as it had defeated the UAE in the group stage of the ACC Trophy Elite.
As per ACC’s tradition of drawing teams, Nepal is to meet fourth seed Malaysia, fifth seed Hong Kong, eighth seed Maldives and ninth seed Singapore in the group stage while the UAE (second seed), Afghanistan (third), Oman (sixth), Kuwait (seventh) and Bahrain (10th) in another group.
According to a source, the host Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has been preparing for the tournament as per the same ACC guideline.
Top two teams of the tournament, except Afghanistan, will qualify to the World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in November. Afghanistan, a team with One-Day status, gets automatic qualification for the qualifiers.
Tie-sheet changed for ACC Women’s Championship
Meanwhile, ACC made amendments in the tie-sheet of the upcoming ACC Women’s Championship to be held in Thailand from January 23 to 31 as Afghanistan withdrew from from the tournament.
Earlier, Nepal, defending champion Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bhutan, the UAE and Afghanistan were slated in the group A and Nepal was to play with Afghanistan in its first match.
Following the amendments, Nepal will now play Bhutan on January 24 in its first match. Nepal will take on the UAE on January 25, Malaysia on January 27 and Hong Kong on January 28. Thailand, China, Singapore, Kuwait, Iran and Qatar are slated in group B of the tournament. Winner of the tournament will qualify to Women’s World T20 Qualifiers to be held in Ireland in August.