The final league-stage games of the countries participating in the single-round quadrangular T20I series concluded on Saturday with Nepal and Kuwait booking their place in the final.

Kuwait defeated Qatar in the first game on Saturday, while the match between Nepal and Hong Kong was called off due to rain. The cancellation of the game awarded Nepal and Hong Kong one point each, that saw the host, who had a chance for the final by beating Nepal, drop down to third place.

Hong Kong were at 68/3 in nine overs when the umpires cleared the ground. As the rain continued, the game was cancelled. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi had bagged two wickets while Nandan Yadav picked one to send the top three batters of Hong Kong back to the pavilion.

Meanwhile, bottom-placed Qatar failed to register a consolation win in the league stage. Qatar, with three consecutive losses, would be looking for a win in their last game for the third-place against Hong Kong.

Kuwait chased Qatar’s target of 125 runs with six wickets and 60 balls remaining to book a spot in the final.

The final, being played on Sunday, will be the third time that Nepal and Kuwait meet in T20Is.

They first met back in July 2019 when Nepal defeated Kuwait by seven wickets in the game that was part of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Region Final. The second encounter was in the ongoing series.

In the duo’s fixture on April 10, Kuwait posted a defending target of 186 runs, which Nepal overcame by registering their highest-ever T20I chase, and with players setting many other individual records.

Still, it was not an easy win for Nepal. Thus, the final game between Nepal and Kuwait is anticipated to be a tough battle.

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the final league game between Nepal and Hong Kong also prevented the players from improving their standing in the tournament.

For instance, Kushal Bhurtel, who had 119 runs in two games with two half-centuries, did not get to bat on Saturday, missing out on the chance to increase his runs to compete for the top spot among run scorers.

Currently, Hong Kong’s Anshy Rath is the top run scorer with 151 runs in 3 innings and is followed by Kuwait’s Clinto Anto (129 runs in 3 innings). Bhurtel is third in the list.

Similarly, Qatar’s Mohammed Irshad is the highest wicket-taker in the tournament, grabbing 7 wickets in 3 innings, and is followed by Kuwait’s Mohamed Shafeeq with 5 wickets in 3 innings and Hong Kong’s Waqas Barkat with 4 wickets in 1 inning.

Nepali left-arm spinner Rajbanshi is also in the Top 3 among bowlers with the best economy, with an economy rate of 6.88 in three innings.