Nepal are taking on Asian Test giants Pakistan in the fifth play playoff semi-finals of the ICC U-19 World Cup at the Khan Saheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah, Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The match will serve as a first stage of qualification for Nepal, who can earn an automatic berth in the 2018 ICC U-19 World Cup provided they produce another unlikely victory in the tournament. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had decided to provide the highest-ranked non-Test playing team an automatic qualification for the 2018 U-19 World Cup to be held in New Zealand.

Nepal and Namibia are currently in fray for the only available automatic berth. Namibia, who also had a similar story to Nepal stunning defending champions and Test giants South Africa on their way to the quarter-finals, will meet England in their fifth place playoff semi-final.

If both Nepal and Namibia lose their respective playoff semi-finals, they will play each other in the seventh place playoff to decide the qualifier for tournament’s next edition to be hosted by New Zealand two years later. But more than the spot in the next edition, Nepal’s assistant coach Binod Das is eagerly awaiting the clash against Pakistan.

“We are looking forward to the game against Pakistan. Its another good opportunity for us to enhance our reputation. We have been playing good cricket and we want to continue it on Tuesday as well,” Das told the Post from Bangladesh on the eve of the match. Das was the captain of the Nepali side that stunned Pakistan by 30 runs in the group stage of the 2002 World Cup. Nepal’s recent clash against Pakistan was in tournament’s official warmup, which Nepal went on to lose by 110 runs.

Pakistan were posing themselves as title contenders winning their all group stage matches before a disciplined West Indies side on Monday hammered them by five wickets. Umari Maqsood lifted Pakistan from 57-5 to 227-6 with a 114-ball 113 before the West Indies reached 229-5 in just 40 overs. Tevin Imlach and Shimro Hetmyer made half centuries for West Indies.

After back-to-back failures of openers, Nepal’s innings will once again revolved around middle order led by Raju Rijal and Aarif Sheikh. The spinning quartet of Sandeep Lamichhane, Sushil Kandel, Prem Tamang and Sunil Dhamala will be key in Nepali bowling.