Nepal, which got Twenty20 International Status from International Cricket Council (ICC) last year, is set to play second T20I matches almost after seven months since it played first match against Hong Kong last year. Nepal is scheduled to play four T20I matches against the Netherlands before ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers as part of preparation for the tournament being jointly organized by Ireland and Scotland from July 9 to 26.
Nepal was awarded T20I status by ICC on June 28 which came into effect from October 1 last year. Since then Nepal played the only T20I against Hong Kong and faced two wicket defeat in Colombo, Sri Lanka on November 24, 2014.
Nepal is scheduled to played first and second match of the tour on June 30 and July 1 at Amstelveen, while third and fourth match will be held at Rotterdam on July 2 and 3. Nepal will also play two warm up matches against Oman and United Arab Emirates on July 6 and 7 respectively.
Chances of being in ICC T20I Rankings Table The tour has been rated as one of the most important before the Qualifiers, since Nepal will get chances to be in ICC T20 rankings if Nepal finishes with high winning percent.
A T20I side needs to play at least eight T20I matches to be in the ranking after earning the status. Nepal has already played four matches of T20I status including three matches of the World Twenty20 Cup held in Bangladesh last year and one against Hong Kong. Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake said that the tour of the Netherlands will be vital since Nepal gets chances to be enlisted in the Global Ranking. He also highlighted the importance of the Netherlands tour association it with preparations for the World T20 Qualifiers. "After playing these four games, we will be in ICC ranking table.
And will also be a solid opportunity to prepare for the qualifiers," said Dassanayake over Facebook who was in a transit in Istanbul en route to India. He will join Nepali team on Wednesday in India which is in New Delhi for visa processing for Qualifiers. The Nepali team will also conduct closed camp training from June 5 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association in Dharamshala and return home on June 20.
The 22 member team will be finalized before it flies to England for further preparation before vying in the Qualifiers. Meanwhile, Nepal is also scheduled to play two list A matches of the ICC World Cricket League Championship against Scotland on July 29 and 31.
