Here's why Nepal will not be part of the 2025 Asia Cup.
The Asia Cup 2025 (T20 format) kicks off today, September 9, 2025, in the United Arab Emirates. The eight teams set to compete include the five permanent ACC full members and three qualifiers from the 2024 ACC Men’s Premier Cup
After having been a six-team affair in the last few editions, the 2025 Asia Cup will have eight teams participating. India and Pakistan will be in the same group. However, Nepal, who had played in the 2023 edition, will not feature this time around.
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In the Asia Cup, the five full member sides—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan automatically qualify for the main tournament. Normally, the sixth team that qualifies for the Asia Cup is the side that win the ACC Premier Cup. However, ahead of the 2025 edition, it was decided that the top three teams from the 2024 ACC Premier Cup would qualify for the Asia Cup this year.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had defeated Oman in the final of the ACC Premier Cup last year, which meant these two teams qualified as winners and runners-up respectively. Nepal and Hong Kong had reached the semi-finals, but both of them lost their respective games.
While Nepal lost to UAE by six wickets, Oman defeated Hong Kong by five wickets. Nepal and Hong Kong then played a third-place playoff game to decide who qualifies for the Asia Cup. In the end, it was Hong Kong who qualified as they defeated Nepal by four wickets.
Nepal are also ranked lower in the ICC T20I rankings compared to some of the Asia Cup 2025 participants. They currently sit 18th with 168 rating points, below UAE (15th, 179 points), Namibia (16th, 178 points) and USA (17th, 175 points). However, Nepal are still placed higher than both Oman (20th, 146 points) and Hong Kong (24th, 128 points), two sides that made it to the Asia Cup through the ACC Premier Cup pathway.
While the ACC expanded Asia Cup 2025 to 8 teams — allowing three spots via qualifiers — Nepal simply fell short in performance, finishing just outside qualifying positions
Nepal have not yet qualified for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Their route goes through the 2025 Asia–EAP Regional Final, which will be held in Oman from October 8 to 17, 2025.
This Regional Final is the last stage of qualification for the Asia and East Asia-Pacific region. A total of nine teams will participate, including Nepal, Oman, Papua New Guinea, UAE, Qatar, Malaysia, Japan, Kuwait and Samoa.
The tournament will feature three groups of three, followed by a Super Six round. The top three teams from this event will qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup, joining the already confirmed sides — India, Sri Lanka (hosts), Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Pakistan.
In the Asia sub-regional qualifiers for the 2026 T20 World Cup, two separate events were held — Qualifier A in Malaysia (Aug–Sep 2024) and Qualifier B in Qatar (Nov 2024).
The top two teams from each event progressed to the Asia–EAP Regional Final, joining Nepal and Oman (who got direct byes as 2024 T20 World Cup participants) along with the EAP finalists. Although Nepal got a direct bye to this Regional Final because they featured in the 2024 T20 World Cup, they will need to finish in the top three to secure their spot in the global tournament.
Nepal recently took part in the Top End T20 Series 2025 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia — a pre-season tournament sanctioned by Cricket Australia that also features BBL academy sides and international development teams.
In the group stage, Nepal managed two wins from six matches, finishing eighth out of eleven teams with 4 points and a net run rate of -0.058. Their victories came against Bangladesh A and the Hobart Hurricanes Academy, but defeats in other games meant they could not progress to the semi-finals.
The competition was ultimately won by the Perth Scorchers Academy, who defeated Adelaide Strikers Academy in the final. For Nepal, however, the series was a valuable opportunity to give exposure to young players against high-quality opposition from Australian academies, Pakistan Shaheens, Bangladesh A, and others. Participating in such tournaments remains crucial for Nepal’s player development and preparation ahead of global qualifiers.
On the ODI front, Nepal are competing in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 (2023/24–2027 cycle), which serves as a key step in the CWC 2027 qualification pathway. As of September 8, 2025, Nepal sit 7th out of 8 teams with 12 points from 16 matches (5 wins, 9 losses, 2 no results).
Given their current position, Nepal are most likely headed towards the CWC Qualifier Play-off, which is contested by the bottom teams from League 2 along with top sides from the Challenge League. Success there would allow them to reach the CWC Qualifier, the final gateway to the 2027 World Cup. From that stage, only the top two teams progress to the main event in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.
In short, Nepal’s road to the 2027 Cricket World Cup will almost certainly require navigating three stages — League 2 → Qualifier Play-off → World Cup Qualifier. It’s a demanding route, but one that still keeps their World Cup hopes alive if they can string together consistent performances in the coming years.
Nepal’s cricket calendar in 2025 is packed with historic moments and crucial qualifiers. While they miss out on the Asia Cup 2025, Rohit Paudel’s side will face the West Indies in their first-ever bilateral T20I series, followed immediately by their campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia–EAP Regional Final in Oman.
This run of fixtures means Nepal will go from making history against a full-member team in Sharjah straight into a high-stakes qualifying campaign for the 2026 T20 World Cup. The exposure against West Indies should give them valuable preparation before meeting regional rivals like Kuwait and Japan in Oman.
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