Nepal will aim to qualify for their second consecutive Asia Cup when they begin their 2024 ACC Men’s Premier Cup against Malaysia in Al Amerat, Oman on Friday.

Rohit Paudel’s Rhinos are the defending champions. They defeated the United Arab Emirates in the 2023 ACC Men’s Premier Cup final in Kathmandu to qualify for their first ever Asia Cup last year.

They will look to continue their dominance this year as well.

Nepal have had an intensive preparation in the shortest format of the cricket since the turn of this year, and with the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup also looming, they will hope to enter the global event on a high.

But their build up to the Premier Cup has been a patchy one.

Nepal are heading to Oman with morale-boosting triumph in the SMS Friendship Cup in India. Prior to that they swept the two-match T20 series against Ireland Wolves 2-0.

Coach Monty Desai has called up the same squad that travelled to India for the Premier Cup.

However, their inconsistencies in the form—especially with the bat—was evident in the two preceding tri-nation T20I series. They lost both the series in the final—against the Netherlands at home and against Papua New Guinea in Hong Kong.

Despite that, Nepal will still start the tournament as one of the favourites being the second highest ranked team at 17th position. Tournament’s highest ranked side the UEA and hosts 18th ranked Oman will be other front-runners.

Only the winners will make their way to the 2025 Asia Cup.

Oman, one of the two teams of the Premier Cup playing at this year’s T20 World Cup as their third appearance since making their debut in 2016, will have the home advantage and will look to secure their first ever ticket to the Asia Cup.

Oman, who had defeated Nepal in the Super Over in the final of the World Cup Asia Qualifier in November last year, prepared for the Premier Cup with a five-match T20I series against Namibia—their group opponents in the T20 World Cup in June—this month, which they lost 3-2. Last month, they won a three-match T20I series against PNG 3-1.

The most hurt and the wounded side will be the UAE, who will look to avenge last edition’s final defeat against Nepal—a defeat that had cost them a place in the 2023 Asia Cup. They will also bring the grudge of the T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier where they lost to Nepal in the semi-finals and failed to book their ticket to this year’s World Cup.

Luckily for Nepal, the Premier Cup draw has been kinder, with Group A pitching them against Hong Kong, Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Group B consists of Bahrain, Cambodia, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE.

Cambodia and Saudi Arabia qualified for the Premier Cup as the top two teams of the 2024 ACC Men's Challenger Cup. Other eight teams made their cut as the eight highest ranked ACC associate members.