Nepal women’s cricket team makes early exit from Global World Cup Qualifier

The women’s  national cricket team of Nepal’s run in the recently  concluded ICC Global World Cup Twenty20 Qualifier was short lived, following  three defeats and one victory  in Kathmandu recently.

The home team’s dream of  a record  breaking performance to qualify  for the championship round in the annals  of Nepal cricket history proved futile.

In retrospect, with two defeats and one win they faced Scotland in a must win game to make  it to the super sixes and  keep  their dream afloat in the tournament.

After slumping to two straight defeats at the hands of Thailand and the Netherlands,they reignited hopes of a bounce back after recording their first  victory in the tournament .

The six wicket win against Zimbabwe was impressive and achieved in the 20th over with three balls to spare. 

Nepal’s  run chase materialized largely to Puja Mahato’s  brilliant  batting.She batted aggressively to score 52 with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes and remained unbeaten. 

Skipper Indu Barma contributed a handy 22 runs.  All rounder Sita Rana Magar made 11 runs before retiring hurt but   reached a personal  remarkable milestone by completing 1000  runs in T20.

However, in the crucial encounter against Scotland Nepal failed to carry the momentum and faltered badly.They meekly surrendered to  handover the tie to the opponent. 

Obviously, fragile batting contributed to their 72 run defeat,ending their run in the tournament.

In the run chase the batters underperformed,struggled and never got going.Wickets fell at regular intervals and there was not a single  partnership to anchor  the innings. As a result, the innings was wrapped up in  just 13.5 overs for a paltry total of 68.

The bowlers put in a pretty decent performance restricting the opponents to 140 runs in 20 overs. 

Manisha Upadhyaya and Rubina Chhetri  with 4 and  3 wickets respectively led the charge, however, their impressive performance was wasted. 

In the match against the Netherlands, Nepal came very close to registering an incredible victory but fell short by a heartbreaking  2 runs.

Chasing a competitive target of 140,despite inconsistent batting by the top  order, late in the innings Sita Rana Magar (27 runs) and Rubina Chhetri(37 runs) were involved in a productive partnership. 

They batted brilliantly and staged a defiant and determined fight back to put the team within  the reach  of a spectacular upset win. But with overs running out their valiant effort went in vain by a whisker at the end much to everyone’s despair.

Nepal’s opener against Thailand ended in an 8 wickets defeat. Despite a half century plus opening partnership between Bindu Rawal( 44 runs) and Samjhana Khadka(26 runs),brittle batting by the middle order restricted the total  to a paltry 122 runs.

Opener Bindu  Rawal was the top scorer with 91 runs ,while Puja Mahato who scored the lone half century plus for the team was second with 74 runs.

Likewise,all rounder Rubina  Chhetri, Samjhana Khadka,Indu Barma and Sita Rana Magar  scored 66,47 and 41 runs respectively.

On the bowling front, Rubina Chhetri with six wickets was the top wicket taker, followed by Manisha Upadhyaya (4 wickets),Riya Shrestha (4 wickets) and Sita Rana Magar ( 4 wickets).

Certainly a big opportunity to cash in on home advantage and prove themselves on a platform big as this went begging  by for Team Nepal.

Looking at the  team’s batting and bowling statistics,it was below average. In order for them to be highly competitive in a tournament of  World Cup Global  Qualifier  stature,the numbers  have to be elevated dramatically to make an impact. There is plenty  of room for  them to  improve technically and must seriously work on their shortcomings going forward. 

Apart from that, players need to be more committed,focused, consistent in their performance, and develop a positive and competitive mindset. 

Without a doubt, they put their hearts and minds into the competition to deliver the best possible results.They deserve a pat on their backs for the effort.

To be fair, given the  recent history of Nepal  women’s cricket,the cricketers are making steady progress and have displayed plenty of potential and promise amidst the poor state of  infrastructure and  facilities, unproductive domestic cricket,inadequate investment,absence of full support from Cricket Association  of Nepal and Sports Ministry responsible for the development of women’s cricket , limited international exposure  and many more.

There is need for a meaningful and effective overhaul of women’s domestic cricket in terms of overall development on all fronts to change the landscape,lure stakeholders and sponsors,  and,more importantly, attract and motivate new generation of young players to the sport and help current cricketers become better players, play to their ability and achieve success.

The national team’s next big challenge  is the second  edition of the 2026 Asia Cup Twenty20 Rising  Stars Women’s cricket tournament taking place on February 23 in Thailand.

They are alongside India A,Pakistan A and the  United Arab Emirates in  Group A. 

The tournament provides them another very important exposure and experience to further hone their skills and learn the finer points of the game.

Back to the World Cup Global Qualifier, the  top four teams in the Super six- Bangladesh, Scotland,Ireland and the Netherlands  have qualified for the 2026  World Cup championship round taking  place later this year in England and Wales. Bangladesh with an unbeaten  record  won the Super Six.