Nepal beats Malaysia to start T20 Women's World Cup Qualifiers

KATHMANDU, Aug 30: Nepal has opened its first game of the ICC Women’s T-20 World Cup Qualifiers with an exhilarating win. Nepal defeated the host Malaysia by 5 runs in the match played on Thursday.

After losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Nepal scored 84 runs and only lost 6 wickets in the scheduled over. The home team Malaysia could only score 79 runs after losing nine wickets in their scheduled over.

Opener Sita Rana Magar scored an unbeaten 38 runs for Nepal and faced 54 balls. She also scored a four. Apsari Begam also scored a four and 17 runs in total. She faced a total of 38 balls.

Captain Rubina Chhetri scored 12 runs in 13 balls. She also managed to hit two fours. On the other hand, opener Kajal Shrestha, Samjhana Khadka and Indu Burma returned to the pavilion with zero runs. Pooja Mahato and Kabita Joshi both added 5 runs each for the team. The Nepal team also added seven extra runs in the match.

In the tournament, Nepal has been placed in the group 'A' along with Malaysia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.  

Group 'B' comprises China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kuwait and Myanmar. The two top teams from each group will be qualified for the semi-final round and the top two teams making way to the final will be eligible to compete in the Global T-20 qualifier scheduled to take place in 2024. 

Nepal will play Bahrain tomorrow on Friday.