KATHMANDU:- Nepal has defeated Kuwait in the match held last night under the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia and EAP Qualifier.

In the match held at the Al Amerat cricket ground in Oman, Nepal defeated Kuwait by 58 runs. Chasing a victory target of 142 runs posted by Nepal, Kuwait lost all its wickets with only 83 runs on the board in 18.1 overs.

Only three Kuwait batsmen could score in double figure with opener Clinto Anto and batsman Yashin Patel contributing 26 and 19 runs respectively. Meet Bhavsar scored 11 runs in 12 balls.

Nepali bowlers Lalit Rajbansi, Sandeep Lamichhane and Captain Rohit Paudel took 2 wickets each in giving their team the first win of the qualifiers. Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav and Kushal Bhurtel chipped in with a wicket a piece.

Earlier, batting first after losing the toss, Nepal had scored 141 runs in 20 overs at the loss of 7 wickets.

Opener Kushal Bhurtel top-scored with 66 runs in 56 balls followed by Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulshan Jha who scored 20 runs each. Captain Rohit Paudel was the third batsman to reach double figures, scoring 16 runs in 15 balls. Bhurtel won the player-of-the-match award for taking 1 wicket as well.

For Kuwait, N Rajendran and A Chandamara took 2 wickets each following by M.A. Farooq and M. Aslam who took 1 wicket each.

Led by captain Paudel, Nepali national team comprises Asif Sheikh, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Sandeep Jora, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav, Gulshan Jha and Sandeep Lamichhane.

Nepal has been grouped together with Kuwait and Japan in Group B. There are three groups comprising nine countries vying for a spot in the T20 world cup taking place from February to March in 2026.  (RSS)