Nepal on Thursday sealed their berth for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup as they defeated United Arab Emirates in the final match of the World Cup League 2 tri-series. Nepali team beat a tough challenge from UAE by 9 runs (D/L method) at TU Cricket Ground. They overtook Namibia to finish third in the Cricket World Cup League 2 to make it to the qualifiers.
UAE posted a massive score of 311 on the board as Asif Khan scored a historic century despite coming in to bat in the 38th over. Nepal did well to stay in chase position but were dealt a blow with regular wickets. When he needed 42 off 36 balls with a half-century in the middle, play was stopped due to bad light and it was not resumed. Nepal was 9 runs ahead at stoppage and was declared the winner. They will play in the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Asif Khan put up a mouth-watering show by scoring a century off just 41 balls. UAE opener and captain Muhammad Wasim scored 63, while Aravind propelled the UAE batting with 94. Dipendra Singh took two wickets for Nepal. Asif Khan created history against Nepal as he scored the fastest century by a batsman from an allied nation in 41 balls, and the fourth highest century in the history of international cricket. Khan played at a strike rate of over 240 and hit 11 sixes and four fours. With this innings, Asif has left behind batsmen like Mark Boucher (44 balls), Brian Lara (45 balls). jos buttler (46 balls) and Virat Kohli (52 balls).
Chasing down the target, Nepal opener Kushal Bhurtel scored a half-century as some of the top-order batsmen fell cheaply. However, middle-order batsmen, Bhim Sharkey and Arif Sheikh scored fifties before Gulshan Jha remained unbeaten.