The Asia Cup 2025 has just few days left to begin as it has to get start from 9th September in the UAE. In this tournament, Eight teams are playing, but a big surprise for many fans is that Nepal isn’t one of them. People are wondering why, especially since Nepal played in the last Asia Cup in 2023.
The main reason is how teams qualify for the tournament. The five main Test-playing countries in Asia—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan—get to play automatically. The other three spots go to the best teams from a special tournament called the ACC Premier Cup.
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This year, the rules were changed so the top three teams from the 2024 Premier Cup would qualify. The UAE won the tournament and Oman came in second, so they both got in. That left one spot for the third-place winner. This was decided in a special match between the two teams that lost in the semi-finals: Nepal and Hong Kong.
In that important match, Nepal lost to Hong Kong by four wickets. This loss, after their earlier semi-final defeat to the UAE, meant they missed their chance. Even though Nepal has a better world ranking (18th) than Oman and Hong Kong, their performance in these key matches was what counted.
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This shows that in cricket, just having a good ranking isn’t enough. You have to win the important games to get a spot. For Nepal, not playing in this year’s Asia Cup is a tough lesson, but it’s also a chance for them to get better for the future.