Nepali national women's cricket team, who were scheduled to return Kathmandu from Dhaka on Thursday morning, missed the flight after failing to adhere to Covid-19 protocol.

Now the 18-member Nepali team including 15 players and three officials will return over land, according to Prashant Malla, the acting secretary of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).

Nepal had been to Bangladesh to prepare for a three-match series against the women's cricket team of Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKKSP) to fine-tune the team's preparations for ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifiers set to take place from November 22 to 28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"The team members were misinformed that their PCR tests would be conducted at the airport and they did not conduct a mandatory PCR test required before boarding a flight. But no such test was available at the airport and we (CAN) tried our best to bring them in, requesting the Bangladesh officials, but we were unsuccessful," said Malla.

"Now (Thursday afternoon) they are at the Nepali embassy in Dhaka and will reach Kakadbhitta border via land transport on Friday morning. They will arrive in Kathmandu on the same day," said Malla. "We have asked for a formal report from the team manager and officials regarding how such misunderstanding occurred. If we find flaws on their part, we will take action."

Nepal are scheduled to fly to Qatar on Sunday for a three-match T20I series against the hosts. The matches will be played on November 16, 17 and 18. They next visit the UAE on November 19 for Asian Qualifiers. The Qualifiers feature six teams including hosts UAE, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Bhutan and Nepal. The team finishing on top of the standings after round robin league will qualify for the final phase of qualifiers next year.