Nepal take on their nemesis Afghanistan in a do-or-die showdown of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on Saturday.

The match at the Bulawayo Athletic Club will be of huge significance for both the teams, particularly for Nepal, if they are to stay alive in hunt for the Super Six. With one-day international status at stake, Nepal will need to give their all against a team who are all but out of Super Six contention having lost three consecutive matches. 

To make into the Super Six, Nepal are now in need of winning both their remaining matches—the other against Hong Kong—and hope Zimbabwe also beat Hong Kong in the other Group ‘B’ match on Saturday. Scotland, who eased to a four-wicket victory over Nepal, on Thursday, have already made it through to the Super Six and earned the ODI status with six points from three consecutive 

victories.

If Nepal lose to Afghans, a Hong Kong qualification is possible if they follow their stunning 30-run victory over Afghanistan on Thursday with victory over Zimbabwe. If both Nepal and Hong Kong lose, the final league game between the two sides will determine the fate of three teams including Afghanistan. 

Nepal have a long history against Afghans who came into cricket’s mainstream in 2004 and overtook all their Asian non-Test playing rivals by becoming the 12th Test country. Nepal have not defeated Afghanistan in cricket’s 50-over format for the last 14 years. Their last victory against the Afghans came in the 2004 ACC Trophy third place playoff. 

The two sides have met six times after 2004 meeting and Afghanistan have prevailed in all of those matches. The last clash between the two teams came in the 2014 ACC Premier League in Kuala Lumpur where Afghanistan went on to crush Nepal by 108 runs under Duckworth/Lewis Method.

But Afghanistan have had a disastrous Qualifiers campaign so far that began with the loss of their regular skipper Asghar Stanikzai before tournament kick off. They had lost just two matches— against Scotland and Zimbabwe—before losing another important member, opening batsman Mohammad Shahzad for the league campaign due to suspension.

Nepal skipper Paras Khadka knows the gravity of Saturday’s game. “The tournament is still open for us moving into the last two games and we have to take it one game at a time. Afghanistan are going through a rough tournament but they will be pushing for the victory. We will push everything that we have to get that win and points on board,” Khadka had told the post match presentation after Thursday’s defeat to the Scots.

But to defeat a side that has raced away in world cricket in every means, Nepal will have a lot of work to do. Despite losing two key members of the team, Afghanistan still are a tough opponent with quality batsmen and bowlers at their disposal. They boast world No 1 ODI bowler in leg spinner and stand-in skipper Rashid Khan along with mystery off break bowler Mujeeb Zadran and Mohammad Nabi. 

The fast bowling combination of Shapoor Zadran and Dawlat Zadran can be equally lethal to Nepal, whose batting frailties were exposed against Scotland. “We need to bat better than we did against Scotland. If we get batting, bowling and fielding department together, we will produce the result that we want. And I just hope it happens when we play Afghanistan,” added Khadka.

Nepal had a horrible batting display against Scotland when they were reduced to 39-5 at one stage and it was only due to a half century from Khadka and some late resistance from lower order that they managed to go close to 150-run mark. With most of the top order batsmen not managing to put enough runs on the board for a long time, Nepal will be expected to bring some change in batting department as well.

 

 

 

 

Tournament Venue Result Stage Year

ACC Premier League Kuala Lumpur Afghanistan win by 108 runs (D/L) League 2014

ACC Emerging Teams Cup Singapore Afghanistan win by 3 runs (D/L) League 2013

ACC Trophy Elite Hubara Afghanistan win by 95 runs Final 2010

ACC Trophy Elite Kula Lumpur Afghanistan win by 3 wickets Third place playoff 2008

ICC World Cricket League Div-V Jersey Afghanistan win by 37 runs Semi-finals 2008

ACC Trophy Elite Kuala Lumpur Afghanistan win by 64 runs (D/L) Third place playoff 2006

ACC Trophy Elite Kuala Lumpur Nepal win by 47 runs Fifth place playoff 2004

 

 

 

Team M W L NR Pts NRR

Group A

Ireland 2 2 0 0 4 1.093

West Indies 2 2 0 0 4 1.030

UAE 3 2 1 0 4 0.224

PNG 3 0 3 0 0 -0.770

Netherlands 2 0 2 0 0 -1.358

 

Group B

Scotland 3 3 0 0 6 1.160

Zimbabwe 2 2 0 0 4 1.180

Hong Kong 2 1 1 0 2 -0.838

Afghanistan 3 0 3 0 0 -0.312

Nepal 2 0 2 0 0 -1.695