It was Match No. 2 of the Super Three from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifiers between United Arab Emirates Women and Nepal Women. Three teams — Nepal, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates — had qualified for the second round of the Qualifiers, with Nepal and United Arab Emirates facing off this morning. UAE Women had already played their first game against Thailand Women and lost that encounter by a heavy margin, which affected their Net Run Rate as well. It was a must-win game for the UAE Women, but Nepal Women had different plans and knocked UAE out of the tournament.
UAE were one of the teams with the most demanding and commanding performances in the league stages. They took apart every opponent they faced and showed their dominance. One of their standout performances came against Qatar Women, when they put up a massive total of 192 on the board and retired all their batters out. They ended up winning that game by a huge margin of 163 runs. On the other hand, Nepal were not as consistent compared to UAE and had a few washed-out games. They got the better of Hong Kong, China Women, and qualified for the Super Three after the washed-out game between Hong Kong, China Women, and Bahrain Women. Looking at Nepal’s performance today, they took apart the UAE bowlers and registered a commanding win to make it to the final two teams of the Asia Qualifiers.
Talking about today’s game, played at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok, Nepal won the toss and opted to bowl first, asking the UAE Women to post a total on the board. UAE Women started off really well with Esha Oza and Theertha Satish putting together a stellar opening partnership, backed by Keny and Hotchandani later on. However, none after the first four could really score much, and UAE Women ended up with just 114 on the board. Considering the start they had, UAE Women definitely felt they fell 10–15 runs short of a competitive total. It was Nepal’s Manisha Upadhyay who tore apart the batting line-up, restricting them to only 114. Manisha registered impressive bowling figures of 4 for 20 in just 4 overs. Kabita Kunwar also complemented Manisha by picking up 2 wickets and bowling a maiden over as well.
It was now time for UAE Women to pull off something special with the ball, but Nepal Women were absolutely brilliant with the bat. They started off strongly, not letting UAE dominate them. A couple of wickets fell in the middle overs, which gave UAE some hope and belief of a strong comeback, but it was skipper Indu Barma and Rubina Chhetry who held their nerves and delivered a solid performance with the bat. They kept the scoreboard ticking and did the bulk of the scoring, chasing down 115 with three balls to spare and knocking UAE out of the tournament.
Nepal Women and Thailand Women will now play the last game of the Super Three, which will also decide the winner of the tournament. Two heavyweights will face each other, and it promises to be a mouth-watering clash between these sides at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok. The live coverage for the match starts from 8:30 AM onwards tomorrow, i.e., 20th of May, 2025.
