Muscat (Oman) — Nepal has won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia–East Asia Pacific Qualifier title after defeating Samoa by 124 runs in the final match held in Oman.
Chasing a massive target of 212 runs, Samoa managed to score only 87 runs for 7 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Sean Solia top-scored for Samoa with 40 runs.
For Nepal, Lalit Rajbanshi took three wickets, while Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, and captain Rohit Paudel grabbed one wicket each.
Earlier, after losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Nepal posted 211 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs.
Two Nepali batsmen struck half-centuries — Aasif Sheikh scored 69 runs off 41 balls with seven fours and four sixes, and Dipendra Singh Airee made 53 off 33 balls. Kushal Bhurtel added 17, Aarif Sheikh made 9, while captain Rohit Paudel (21* off 12) and Lokesh Bam (39* off 12) remained unbeaten.
With this victory, Nepal topped the points table and qualified for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, alongside Oman (second) and UAE (third).
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