Nepal’s men’s cricket team returns to action after five months as the Associate nation travels to Hong Kong for a quadrangular series comprising Qatar and Kuwait. On Monday, they were bade farewell by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in Kathmandu.

Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground will be hosting the Hong Kong Men’s T20I Series 2025 between the four countries. Being played across a single round-robin format, the top two teams will fight for the title and the last two for third place.

Nepal’s squad has been inactive in the international cricket scene since November last year, after the completion of the CWC League 2 tri-series, which included the host USA and Scotland. Nepali players then got involved in the inaugural edition of the Nepal Premier League before getting busy with the Men’s PM Cup until March this year.

“I am very excited for the series,” Nepal’s skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel said in the farewell programme. “We have united as a team after a long time, but we had a very fruitful training in the last few days.”

CAN revealed a 20-member preliminary squad for the Hong Kong series on March 29, after the conclusion of the Men’s PM Cup final between Nepal Police Club and Tribhuvan Army Club at Siddhartha Cricket Ground in Rupandehi.

“We trained in Siddhartha Cricket Ground for around a week. We achieved our goals during the training,” Paudel said. “Now we are looking forward to showing our skills in the series.”

It was only on Saturday that CAN made public the 14-member final squad for the Hong Kong series. Furthermore, as the newly appointed head coach, Australia’s Stuart Law will be joining after a couple of weeks, while Nepal’s former skipper Gyanendra Malla is looking after the team as the interim head coach.

The Hong Kong series is also a big opportunity for Malla, who is also the head coach of Nepal’s A team. “It is not in my hands,” Malla said when asked if he would continue to be in the managerial role of Nepal’s cricket team. “Individually, this is my opportunity. My team is balanced and prepared, both physically and mentally, to win this series.”

Malla also informed that he had a discussion with Law over the players’ selection and the team’s plan. “He [Law] has given me freedom,” Malla said. “I have been told to do things my way. Law will be monitoring the team during this series as well and will take over soon.”

Similarly, when Malla was asked about his views regarding the appointment of a high-level coach like Law, he said that it was ‘late’. “We should have had such a coach before. Better late than never,” said Malla. “I had heard his name when I was a U19 player; he was one of the best players of his time. He can help Nepal be a dominant force among the Associates and support us in our effort to become a Test nation.”

Meanwhile, coach Malla and skipper Paudel echoed that they were not taking the friendly series lightly.

“Two of the teams in the series—Qatar and Kuwait—will be our opponents during the 2025 Men's T20 World Cup Asia–EAP Regional Final Qualifiers in September,” Paudel said. “We can learn about them and prepare better for the World Cup qualifiers.”

Nepal are targeting a spot in the T20 World Cup for the third time, while bettering performance and accumulating more points would be essential in the CWC League 2 (2024-27).

“League 2, the qualifiers for the ODI World Cup, is equally important as the upcoming T20 WC qualifiers,” Paudel said. “We want to enter both tournaments. We will utilise this series to improve for the bigger challenges ahead.”

Nepal are playing Qatar, Kuwait and Hong Kong on April 9, 10 and 12, respectively.