Nepal prove too powerful for UAE in ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 fixture
Nepal vs UAE (Source: Cricketnep on X)
Published - 01 May 2026, 05:52 PM• Read time - 12 mins
Nepal proved too formidable an opponent for UAE yet again as they beat them by six runs (DLS) in an ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 fixture on Friday (May 1) at Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur.
Having elected to bat first, Nepal lost two early wickets and were 29/2 in 7.1 overs before skipper Rohit Paudel and Binod Bhandari added 67 runs for the third wicket to stabilise the innings.
Paudel couldn't convert his 39 (48) into a big one and fell prey to seamer Ajay Kumar, who picked up the second of the game. Dipendra Singh Airee (100 off 94) batted with a lot of responsibility and lifted the team from 187/5 to an impressive score of 289.
Player of the Match (POTM) Airee smashed 13 fours and blasted a six at a strike rate of 106.38. He stitched the match-defining partnership of 102 runs for the sixth wicket with Gulshan Jha (44 off 38). Jha paced his innings at a strike rate of 115.78, including four boundaries and two sixes.
Ajay (2/47) and Junaid Siddique (2/58) were the only ones who could trouble the Nepal batters to an extent.
In reply, UAE got off to a quick start, scoring 36 in just 4.1 overs before Adeeb Usmani fell to Nandan Yadav in the fifth over. Last game's centurion, Aryansh Sharma, couldn't create much impact and got out for 33 off 32 balls.
Muhammad Shahdad (65 off 72) and Harpreet Singh (41 off 40) added 80 runs for the third wicket to steady UAE's innings, but Sompal Kami broke the stand to prevent UAE from running away with the chase.
UAE then lost a cluster of wickets and were 168/6 in 30 overs before Akshdeep Nath (36* off 32) and Khuzaima Tanveer (49 off 26) tried to wrestle momentum in their favour. They added 76 runs for the seventh wicket before Nandan came back into the attack to dismiss Tanveer and ended UAE's hopes.
Akshdeep remained unbeaten on 36 as UAE fell six short of their DLS target of 255 in 38 overs.
ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 2023/24-2027 Points Table
| Rank | Team | Matches (M) | Wins (W) | Losses (L) | Ties (T) | No Result (N/R) | Points (PTS) | Net Run Rate (NRR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 24 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0.939 |
| 2 | Scotland | 28 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 34 | 0.918 |
| 3 | Oman | 26 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 31 | 0.148 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 24 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 0.165 |
| 5 | Namibia | 28 | 10 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 22 | -0.491 |
| 6 | Canada | 24 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 21 | -0.209 |
| 7 | Nepal | 23 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 16 | -0.313 |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates | 23 | 6 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 12 | -1.104 |
