Nepal will play UAE in the second semi-final of the 2023 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier, with the winner proceeding to the main event next year.

The semi-finals of the Asia Qualifiers for the 2024 T20 World Cup will be held on November 3 (Friday). While Oman will take on Bahrain in the first game at Kirtipur, Nepal will play UAE in the second semi-final at Mulpani. The teams that advance to the final will qualify for the Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA next year.

Eight teams were involved in the Asia Qualifiers, with Oman, Nepal, Malaysia and Singapore in Group A. Group B consisted of UAE, Bahrain, Hong Kong and Kuwait. Oman and UAE ended as the two undefeated teams from their respective groups and ended as table-toppers.

Nepal, with two wins from three games, finished second in Group A, while Bahrain edged out Hong Kong and Kuwait in Group B to make the semi-final due to a superior Net Run Rate, with all three sides tied on two points. Bahrain beat Hong Kong, meaning they could afford to lose to Kuwait and still progress as long as they kept the margin of victory down, which they duly did.

Oman are currently ranked 18th in the men’s ICC T20 rankings, while Bahrain are 27th. The Nepal-UAE semi-final is expected to be an evenly-contested game, with just two ranking places separating the two. Nepal are currently 15th on the table, while UAE are 17th.

Overall, the two teams have played eight T20Is against each other, with both sides winning four matches each.

The 2024 T20 World Cup will feature 20 teams for the first time. West Indies and USA have qualified courtesy of being hosts, while the top eight teams from the 2022 T20 World Cup – England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Australia – also automatically qualified. Two other teams were picked according to their rankings. Two teams – Ireland and Scotland – also qualified from the European Qualifiers, while Papua New Guinea and Canada each coming after winning the East Asia-Pacific and America Qualifiers.

Two teams will qualify from each of the Asia and Africa Qualifiers as well.