Nepal qualified for their maiden ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup after they defeated the United Arab Emirates by eight wickets in the final league match at the Sevens Stadium in Ajman, the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday.

Nepal were two points behind the hosts in the league and needed to chase down the 84-run target inside 16.2 overs to pip their opponents to the summit, which they overhauled in 14.4 overs.

The big victory helped Nepal collect 10 points from six matches and climb to the top of the four-team Asia Qualifier on net run rate (3.935) despite being level on points with the UAE, whose net run rate dropped to 3.740 following the loss.

Nepal will now join hosts Malaysia, four other teams from regional qualifiers—Nigeria (Africa Qualifier), Samoa (East Asia-Pacific Qualifier), Scotland (Europe Qualifier) and the United States (Americas Qualifier)—and 10 full members nations (Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies) that received direct entry into the 16-team 2025 World Cup, which is set to take place in Malaysia from January 18 to February 2 next year.

The US automatically qualified from the Americas Qualifier as they were the only team in the region to meet the criteria required to enter the qualification pathway.

Malaysia qualified as hosts.

Nepal’s hopes of reaching the World Cup were pushed to the knife edge when they lost to the UAE in their first leg meeting by 13 runs, and with only the top-placed team booking their ticket to the World Cup next year, the stakes were high.

Nepal needed to beat leaders UAE by a huge margin to ensure their progress and Krishma Gurung stepped up at the crucial moment with a four-wicket haul to restrict the opponents to 83-9, after being sent to bowl first.

Riya Sharma also lit up the innings with two wickets in the 14th over that broke the resistance from UAE skipper Samaira Dharnidharka and Rinitha Rajith after the hosts lost openers Lavanya Keny (10) and Emily Thomas (0) cheaply.

Gurung then savaged the UAE batting line up with three wickets in the 18th over including the scalp of Dharnidharka, who was on 31 runs, to make sure there were no more fightbacks from the opponents.

In between, Seema KC also shone with the ball dismissing Indhuja Nandakumar for 10 and Avanee Sunil Patil for one, while Rachanna Chaudhary also pocketed one.

In the chase, opener Sana Praveen and Sony Pakhrin held their nerves after Sabitri Dhami and Puja Mahato—who had scored a century against Kuwait on Tuesday—fell to Mehak Thakur, to guide Nepal past the target.

Praveen, who was unbeaten on 35 off 42 balls, completed the famous victory in style with a four—her only boundary of the innings—off Nandakumar.

Pakhrin assisted Praveen with a crucial 13 runs off 19 deliveries.

Mahato hit four boundaries in her 18-ball 21 knock, while Dhami played 9-ball 12.

Nepal will join Australia, Bangladesh and Scotland in Group D in the main event. They open their World Cup against Bangladesh on January 18. They play their next group match against Scotland on January 20, followed by a game against Australia on January 22.

The 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four and will play against each other in a single round-robin format. The top three teams from each group will progress into the Super Six stage, which will consist of two groups of six teams.

The top two teams from each group of Super Six stage will progress into the semi-finals to be held on January 31.

The final is scheduled for February 2.

The victory also sent Nepal into the 2024 ACC Women’s U-19 T20 Asia Cup.