Nepal and the United States will play their second matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers on Tuesday, looking to recover from defeats in their opening matches of the tournament.

Nepal had gone down to hosts Zimbabwe by eight runs despite posting a remarkable target of 291 runs at the Harare Sports Club. The US team succumbed to a 39-run defeat against the West Indies at the Takashinga Sports Club in Harare.

Having lost their opening matches in the five-team group that also includes the Netherlands, both sides will come into the game knowing that a defeat in the second match could turn costly for their Super Six hopes. Only the top three teams of both groups in the 10-team qualifiers will be eligible for the Super Six stage. The two finalists from the Super Six will qualify for the ICC World Cup to be played in October and November in India.

“It was a good experience playing against a strong Zimbabwean side. We had given them a tough target, but they played really well,” said Kushal Bhurtel in a video posted on the Cricket Association of Nepal’s social site. Bhurtel, also the highest scorer for Nepal against the home team who missed the century mark by one run, said that a positive outcome against the US would put their team at ease. “We have the next match against the US and we could be at ease, if we get a better outcome against them.”

Though Nepal performed well with the bat against the tough opponents in their opening match, they failed in the bowling department.

For the US, middle order batter Gajanand Singh scored an unbeaten ton after the top order batters made a shaky start to their innings against the West Indies. They managed to score 258 runs on the back of 101 runs by Singh, before losing the game.

While Nepal and Zimbabwe were playing in the 50-over format for the second time four years after the 2018 Qualifiers, the US and the Rhinos are well known foes. Having played six One-Day International (ODI) matches between them from 2020 to 2022, the two sides are well aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Among the six ODI matches, all played during ICC World Cup League 2, Nepal won three, lost two while one match ended in a tie. Nepal won both their matches played at the TU ground—by 35 runs and eight wickets in February 2020. In the two games played at Al Amerat in Oman, Nepal won the first match by five wickets and lost the other by six wickets in September 2021. In June 2022, in the last two games played in Houston, the first game finished in a tie while the US won the second game.