World Cup Qualifiers: Nepal face a stern test against Zimbabwe

The ICC World Cup Qualifiers will start on June 18 with the hosts, Zimbabwe clashing swords against Nepal at the Harare Sports Club. Zimbabwe will be high in confidence as they defeated the Netherlands in the recently-concluded ODI series. Meanwhile, Nepal have won the ACC Premier Cup and will be looking to carry that momentum into the qualifiers. Here is the preview.

Pitch report, timing and streaming details

The Harare Sports Club will host the match on June 18 from 12:30pm IST onward. The venue has hosted 174 ODIs and out of which teams batting second have won 89 times. 4.76 reads the average run rate at the venue in ODIs. Star Sports Network will telecast the match, fans can also live-stream the game on Disney+ Hotstar.

A look at their head-to-head record

Zimbabwe and Nepal have never played against each other in ODIs. However, they have clashed swords in two T20 matches and both times the Chevrons have emerged victorious. Both times they met at the Singapore T20 Tri Series back in 2019.

Zimbabwe start as favorites, Nepal aiming to spark a surprise

Nepal have been in great form in recent times, having won 13 of their last 14 ODIs, 11 of those wins came in the World Cup League 2. They finished third behind Scotland and Omana and hence they qualified for the ICC Qualifiers. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe have won this tournament thrice, the most by any team. They also defeated the Netherlands recently.

Here are the probable playing XIs

Zimbabwe probable XI: Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine (captain), Innocent Kaia, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Clive Madande (wicket-keeper), Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara. Nepal probable XI: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wicket-keeper), Gulshan Jha, Rohit Paudel (captain), Bhim Sharki, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Lalit Rajbanshi, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh.

A look at the key performers

Since 2020, Lamichhane has scalped the most wickets (89) in ODI cricket (avg: 15.53) Karan and Sompal have also scalped 56 and 49 wickets respectively in this period. Chatara is Zimbabwe's fourth-highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 106 wickets. Paudel has slammed 1,240 runs in 42 ODIs at 34.44 since 2020. Raza amassed 1,108 runs in 32 matches at 42.61 during this period.

Dream11 Fantasy cricket picks

Fantasy option 1: Rohit Paudel, Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Aasif Sheikh, Sikandar Raza (c), Ryan Burl, Sandeep Lamichhane, Blessing Muzarabani (vc) and Richard Ngarava and Kushal Malla. Fantasy option 2: Rohit Paudel, Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine (c), Sean Williams, Aasif Sheikh, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Sandeep Lamichhane (vc), Lalit Rajbanshi, Blessing Muzarabani and Wellington Masakadza.