The Cricket Association of Nepal has called 26 players to join the closed camp in Mulpani from Friday. The players, who were revealed on Thursday, will be in the camp for the ICC Women’s T20 Global Qualifiers which will be hosted by the two grounds—Upper and Lower—in Mulpani, Kathmandu, from January 12 to February 1.

There are 10 teams in the qualifiers, divided into two groups of five each. Nepal, the hosts, are in Group B with Bangladesh, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands. Group A is comprised of Ireland, Scotland, Thailand, the USA and Zimbabwe.

Nepal and Thailand reached the Global Qualifiers through the Asia Qualifier hosted by Thailand in May. Similarly, the Dutch and the Irish sides were the two toppers of the European Qualifiers held in August. Africa Qualifiers saw Namibia and Zimbabwe book their berth in the Global Qualifiers, while Papua New Guinea came from the EAP Qualifiers and the USA from the Americas Qualifiers.

Bangladesh and Scotland, on the other hand, qualified automatically based on their performance in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

After a single round-robin format in the group stage, the top three teams from each group enter the Super 6 stage. The Super 6 stage will also see a single-round robin encounter, with the top four teams progressing to the World Cup. The 2026 T20 World Cup is being hosted by England in June-July next year.

Nonetheless, the top four teams from the Super 6 will also be playing in the semi-finals to decide who emerges as the champions in the qualifier.

Nepal’s 26-member squad

Indu Barma, Rajmati Airee, Sita Rana Magar, Samjhana Khadka, Kabita Joshi, Riya Sharma, Somu Bista, Rachana Chaudhary, Rubi Poddar, Puja Mahato, Kabita Kunwar, Rubina Chhetri, Sana Praveen, Alisha Yadav, Ishwari Bist, Roma Thapa, Sony Pakhrin, Bindu Rawal, Laxmi Saud, Manisha Upadhyaya, Seemana KC, Anu Kadayat, Kajol Shrestha, Kiran Kunwar, Asmina Karmacharya and Mamata Chaudhary