Here's why Nepal will not be part of the 2025 Asia Cup.
The details of the upcoming few editions of the Asia Cup tournament, including the 2025 one, were revealed on Thursday. As had been announced earlier, this year’s Asia Cup will be held in the T20 format to help teams prepare for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. India were awarded the hosting rights for the 2025 Asia Cup but will not get to do host the event.
This development comes after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) decided that when it’s time for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to host the tournament, it will be held at a neutral venue. Over the last few years, bilateral relations between India and Pakistan have been tense and it was no different in the build-up towards the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, which is being held in a hybrid model.
India are playing all their matches of the Champions Trophy in Dubai following their refusal to travel to Pakistan due to security concerns.
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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.
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 considerably low in the ICC rankings. They are in 17th place with 171 rating points and are below UAE, who are in 16th place (179 points). Oman (19th, 155 points) and Hong Kong (23rd, 131 points) are, however, ranked below Nepal in the ICC T20I rankings.
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