Nepal’s route to direct qualification has almost closed after they opened the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series in the Netherlands with back-to-back defeats, first to Namibia by eight wickets and then to the Netherlands by six wickets. In both games, Nepal were dismissed for 157.
That is why Nep Vs NED is drawing attention now. The losses came in the middle of a cycle that had once looked workable, and they have left Nepal’s top-four hopes hanging by a thread. For a side that won six of eight home League 2 matches earlier this year, the drop-off away from home has been severe, with 12 defeats in 18 away matches.
The same pattern keeps repeating. Nepal failed to reach 200 while batting first in away League 2 matches on five occasions, and their latest 157s fit that script exactly. Once Aasif Sheikh or Kushal Bhurtel falls, the innings slows sharply or falls apart, leaving the middle order too much to repair under pressure.
Head coach Stuart Law already tried to break that cycle after the 102-run defeat to Oman in February. He dropped the established opening pair and promoted Binod Bhandari and Arjun Kumal, but the move lasted only briefly before Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel were restored. The shuffle did not change the wider problem: Nepal keep losing wickets in clusters and keep landing on totals that are far too small to defend or chase consistently.
Ishan Pandey is part of the same puzzle. He scored heavily against the United States and Scotland two months ago, but he has struggled for runs in the Netherlands, adding to a middle-order picture that has not settled. Dipendra Singh Airee helped drive Nepal’s six wins in eight home League 2 matches earlier this year, but Airee, Rohit Paudel and Aarif Sheikh have not delivered with the same consistency since then.
There is also little margin from the lower middle order. Gulshan Jha has repeatedly thrown away promising starts, while Sompal Kami and Karan KC, both regarded as all-rounders, have only occasionally provided the kind of innings that can rescue a collapse. Nepal won 11 of their 12 League 2 matches in 2023 and turned that into direct qualification for the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, but the current run points in the opposite direction.
The next step is still important, even if the bigger picture has shifted. Nepal are expected to travel to Namibia for a World Cup Qualifier playoff after the current League 2 cycle, but the ICC has yet to unveil the structure that will follow it. For Nepal, the immediate task is simpler and harder at once: find a batting order that can survive away from home before another qualification chance slips out of reach.
