Nepal clinched a 6-wicket victory against Papua New Guinea to qualify for the 7th place playoff in the ICC World Cup Qualifier. Although they have failed to make it to the super sixes round, the Asian side earned ODI status for the first time in their history. They are the seventh Asian country to have achieved the status. 

In the playoff game, Nepal will face the Netherlands who defeated the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. The United Arab Emirates and Papua New Guinea will face each other in the 9th place playoff match and both have been stripped off their ODI status for becoming the bottom two teams in the qualifiers. They have also faced a demotion to WCL Division 2.

In 2016, global governing body deemed Cricket Association of Nepal unfit for purpose. After being banned by the ICC for the past two years, Nepal has done a great job to achieve the feat.

However, the failings of the country’s administrators did not make the players suffer as ICC gave the team an exemption to play on in international cricket.

Regarding their new accomplishment, Nepal skipper Paras Khadka said, “As players, we are pushing ourselves, and whatever happens outside we have always known that if we do well on the field, we can hopefully reach somewhere like that.”

“Over the years we have played good cricket. Once we missed out on the Super Six and qualification was out of our hands, we knew we had to focus on ODI status.