ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers from today

By Anjan khadka,Kathmandu, June 18: Nepal’s national men’s cricket will face Zimbabwe in the inaugural match of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2023 at Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe, on Sunday.

Nepal’s dream to play One Day International (ODI) Cricket World Cup will be realized if the team which has now reached Zimbabwe finish the top two. 

Nepal’s national men’s cricket team captain Rohit Paudel said that they were excited to play against some good cricketing nations and were looking forward to advancing to the tournament.

“For the past couple of years, we have been really working hard for this tournament and finally we have reached here today. We respect this opportunity, and we want to make the most of it, we all are very excited to play against some good cricketing nations and are looking forward to the tournament,” Captain Paudel said ahead of the big match against host Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine said that they are prepared well for the qualifiers. “Preparations have been excellent leading up to the tournament, there is some really exciting cricket coming up and exciting players to watch in the Sikandar Raza, Blessing Muzarabani, and Sean Williams. It’s going to be a great tournament,” Captain Ervine said ahead of the match.

Earlier, Nepal faced Zimbabwe only once in a 50-over format cricket in 2018 during the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifiers. Their first match was the list ‘A’ match between host Zimbabwe and Nepal because Nepal didn’t receive the ODI status in 2018. Nepal suffered 116 run defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in their first meeting held on March 4 2018.

Nepal is facing World Cup experienced Zimbabwe in their opening match of the tournament and Nepali cricketers want to make a huge start in the qualifiers by beating host Zimbabwe.

Altogether 10 teams will vie for the title including host Zimbabwe, Nepal, the Netherlands, the United States of America, West Indies, Ireland, Oman, Scotland, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates.

Nepal has been in the group of death alongside host Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, the United States of America, and West Indies in the group ‘A’. Similarly, Ireland, Oman, Scotland, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates are in group ‘B’. 

The top three sides in each group will advance to the Super Six stage, with the bottom two sides in each group playing off to decide the seventh to 10th spots.

At the Super Six stage, the teams will play three qualifiers from the other group. The Super Six stage will commence on June 29 and for the first time in this tournament, DRS will be used in all matches from this stage onwards.

The top two teams after the Super Six stage will be able to book their tickets to India as the two qualifiers for the Cricket World Cup 2023. They will also play off to be crowned Qualifiers champion in the final on July 9.