Though the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is yet to publish the draw for the tournament, it is almost sure that Nepal would avoid the UAE and Afghanistan in the group stage as ACC usually divides the groups as per the seedings given to the teams based on the ACC Trophy Elite. [break]
Nepal and the UAE had shared the title of ACC Trophy Elite held in the UAE three months ago after the final ended in a tie. However, Nepal gets the top seeding for the T20 tournament as the host and also because it had defeated the UAE in the group stage of ACC Trophy Elite.
As per ACC´s tradition of drawing teams, Nepal is to meet fourth seed Malaysia, fifth seed Hong Kong, eighth seed Maldives and ninth seed Singapore in the group stage while the UAE (second seed), Afghanistan (third), Oman (sixth), Kuwait (seventh) and Bahrain (10th) are likely to be drawn in another group.
According to a source, the host Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has been preparing for the tournament as per the same ACC guideline.
The top two teams of the tournament, except Afghanistan, will qualify for the World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in November. Afghanistan, a team with One-Day status, gets automatic qualification for the qualifiers.
Tie-sheet changed for ACC Women´s Championship
Meanwhile, ACC has made changes to the tie-sheet of the upcoming ACC Women´s Championship to be held in Thailand from January 23 to 31 as Afghanistan withdrew from the tournament.
Earlier, Nepal, defending champion Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bhutan, the UAE and Afghanistan were slated in Group A and Nepal was to play against Afghanistan in its first match.
Following the changes, Nepal will now play its first match against Bhutan on January 24. Nepal will then take on the UAE on January 25, Malaysia on January 27 and Hong Kong on January 28. Thailand, China, Singapore, Kuwait, Iran and Qatar are slated in Group B of the tournament.
The winner of the tournament will qualify for the Women´s World T20 Qualifiers to be held in Ireland in August.
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