ACC Premier Cup: Who are the toughest opponents for Nepal?

All eyes will be on the only available spot for the Twenty20 Asia Cup when teams take to the field for the ACC Men’s Premier Cup beginning from April 12 in Oman.

Nepal, who are among the favourites to snatch the coveted opportunity, will kick off their campaign with the match against Malaysia on the opening day.

Unlike the previous edition, which was played in a 50-over format, this edition has been switched to Twenty20 format considering the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup where Test giants India and Pakistan wait in the wings alongside Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The top three teams from the Premier Cup will also make it to the ACC Emerging Teams Cup which also includes the U-23 teams from the Test nations.

Nepal are also pitted against Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong, while Group B consists of hosts Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Cambodia and Kuwait.

While Malaysia, Hong Kong, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been familiar opponents for Nepal.

In Twenty20 Internationals, Nepal have won eight out of nine matches against Malaysia but prevailed over Hong Kong in just four out of nine games. One game had ended without a result.

Nepal had also lost to Qatar in the only T20I meeting between the two sides during the 2019 World Cup Asia Qualifiers. Here we take a look at all of Nepal’s group stage opponents up-close.

Malaysia

Malaysia have won 15 of their previous 24 T20 international games. Over the period of a year, they have taken part in seven T20 international tournaments, one of which was a bilateral series against PNG. The other six were multi-nation competitions.

Despite not having won any of those tournaments, Malaysia have been giving some of their tougher opponents a run for the money. They narrowly lost the historic match against Bangladesh at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, by 2 runs.

Regardless of all their recent exploits, the biggest concern has been Malaysia’s away performances. Since 2019, they have lost 18 of their 32 away games in T20I format. The fact they are playing in Oman for the first time will be some mental battle for them to overcome.

Malaysian captain Virandeep Singh will once again be the man to watch for any side. He has scored 792 runs at an average of 49.50 over the last 24 innings. His performance includes six half-centuries and a century which came against Indonesia.

In addition, he has been Malaysia’s leading ball-and-bat contributor in the past year, having claimed 33 wickets at an economy rate of less than five in 24 games.

Qatar

Having won six out of the 14 matches they played in a year, a consistent participation in what can be called a top tier cricket is lacking in them. They have played 2 multinational tournaments apart from a bilateral series against Hong Kong.

Known for their strong pace attack, Qatar would be looking to cash in on the slow pitches of Oman, which generally support pace bowling. It was their fast bowling that helped them get the better of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain in the Gulf T20I Championship 2023 held in September last year.

Not to forget, they bowled out Nepal for just 157 runs in the last edition of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup, which was held in Nepal in one-day format. This tournament will be their first away tournament since December 2022.

Muhammad Tanveer and Himanshu Rathod will be the key players for the Qatar team. Tanveer has scored 490 runs in last 13 innings with an average of 70. Rathod has taken 20 wickets in the last 13 innings at an economy of 6.35.

Hong Kong

Since the beginning of this year, the Hong Kong cricket team has been in splendid form; they won five out of five matches played in the East Asia Cup, won the T20I bilateral series against Qatar, and Friendship Cup T20I against Nepal.

Babar Hayat will be the biggest threat to any opponents in the Premier Cup. The big-hitting Hayat has been batting with a strike rate of 150 in the last one year in T20 internationals apart from being the highest run-getter for Hong Kong in the last 24 Twenty20 matches.

Babar possesses the experience and ability to attack bowlers from the word go. Off-spinner Ehsan Khan will be the main strength for Hong Kong team with the ball. He has taken 32 wickets from the last 24 Twenty20 matches with an economy of just 6.08.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and Cambodia have come into the ACC Men’s Premier Cup from ACC Men’s Challenger Cup 2024, held in Thailand.

Although Nepal and Saudi Arabia have met each other at numerous occasions, this will be the first encounter between the two sides after ICC decided to give T20I status to all country games.

Saudi Arabia have only lost 6 out of their last 20 T20I matches. They come to this tournament after winning the ACC Men’s Challenger Cup and the Quadrangular Series also involving Bhutan, Maldives and Thailand.

Abdul Waheed and Faisal Khan will be the main batters for the Saudi Arabia team; both have scored over 500 runs in the last 19 T20 internationals. Captain Hisham Shaikh will be the pick of the bowlers for his team. He is the leading wicket taker for Saudi Arabia in recent tournaments with 22 wickets under his belt.