KATHMANDU:- Nepal defeated the United Arab Emirates by 7 wickets in a warm up match held today in the lead up to the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
In the match held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai, India, Nepal elected to field first after winning the toss, and restricted the UAE to 145 runs in the stipulated 20 overs, taking 6 wickets.
For Nepal, Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets each while Dipendra Singh Airee took 1 wicket.
For the UAE, Harshit Kaushik and Sohaib Khan scored 35 and 38 runs respectively to put up a respectable total, building on the previous contribution of 25 runs by opener Aryansh Sharma and one down batsman Muhammad Zohaib who scored 19 runs.
In reply, Nepal surpassed the UAE total in 17 overs, thanks to half centuries undefeated by Dipendra Singh Airee (50 in 31 balls) and Aarif Sheikh (61 in 31 balls). Nepal lost both its openers, Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh cheaply, who scored only 8 runs each. Capital Rohit Paudel scored 16 runs in 19 balls before Bhurtel and Sheikh saw their team home.
Nepal will now face its second warm-up match against Canada in the same venue on February 5, before playing its maiden match of the ICC T20 World Cup against England on February 8 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India and Sri Lanka are hosting the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 that begins on coming February 7. (RSS)