2026 Nepal Women's Preparation Series

Nepal Women's Preparation Series 2026

Dates	7 January 2026 – 11 January 2026
Administrator	Cricket Association of Nepal
Cricket format	Women's Twenty20
Tournament format	Round-robin (preparation matches)
Host	Nepal
Participants	3
Matches	3
Official website	Cricket Association of Nepal

The Nepal Women's Preparation Series 2026 was a women's Twenty20 cricket preparation tournament organised by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) ahead of the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier. ^[1] The preparation series was held in January 2026 at the Mulpani International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu, Nepal. ^[2]

The tournament featured the Nepal women's national team playing preparation matches against the United States and Scotland women's teams, who were participants in the Global Qualifier. Although Zimbabwe were named in early reports, they did not take part in the series; as a result, the United States played an additional match against Nepal. ^{[3] [4]}

Background

Nepal qualified for the ICC 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier through the Asia regional qualification pathway. ^[5] The Global Qualifier served as the final stage of qualification for the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, which was to be hosted in England and Wales.

As the host nation for the Global Qualifier, ^[6] CAN scheduled a short preparation tournament to provide its players with competitive match practice under local conditions. The tournament was officially announced by the Cricket Association of Nepal on 6 January 2026 through its verified social media platforms. ^[2]

Zimbabwe were initially included among the participating teams for the preparation series but did not take part in the matches; as a result, the United States played an additional game against Nepal.

Venues

All matches in the tournament were played at the following venue:

Venues in Kathmandu District
Mulpani Cricket Ground class=notpageimage| Cricket Venues in Kathmandu	Kageshwari-Manohara, Mulpani
	Mulpani International Cricket Ground (Upper Mulpani Cricket Ground)
	Capacity: 5,000
	Matches: 3

Squads

Players named in their respective squads for the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier participated in the preparation matches. ^[7]

Nepal [8]	Scotland [9]	United States [10]
Indu Barma (c) Bindu Rawal Kabita Joshi Kabita Kunwar Kajal Shrestha (wk) Manisha Upadhaya Puja Mahato (vc) Rachana Chaudhary Rajmati Airee Riya Sharma Roma Thapa Rubina Chhetri Samjhana Khadka Sita Rana Magar Suman Bista	Kathryn Bryce (c) Abtaha Maqsood Ailsa Lister (wk) Chloe Abel Darcey Carter Hannah Rainey Katherine Fraser Megan McColl Mollie Parker Niamh Robertson-Jack Olivia Bell Pippa Sproul Priyanaz Chatterji Rachel Slater Sarah Bryce (wk)	Aditiba Chudasama (c) Chetna Pagydyala Disha Dhingra Ella Claridge (wk) Gargi Bhogle Geetika Kodali Isani Vaghela Lekha Shetty Maahi Madhavan Pooja Ganesh (wk) Ritu Singh Saanvi Immadi Sainavi Kambalapalli Tara Norris Taranum Chopra

Warm-up matches

Warm-up match – Nepal Women vs United States Women (5 December 2025)

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5 December 2025 08:45 Scorecard

United States 138/4 (20 overs)	v	Nepal     140/6 (19.5 overs)
Isani Vaghela 40 (36) Kabita Kunwar 2/14 (3 overs)		Puja Mahato 48 (33) Ritu Singh 2/20(3 overs)

Nepal women won by 4 wickets Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur Umpires: Rabindra Gupta (NEP) and Himal Raj Giri (NEP) Player of the match: Ritu Singh (USA)

• Nepal women won the toss and elected to field.
• Warm-up match played between Nepal women and USA women.

Fixtures

The fixtures were announced by CAN on 6th of December. ^[3]

All times are in Nepal Standard Time (UTC+05:45).

Match 1 7 January 2026 12:45 Scorecard

Nepal     153/4 (20 overs)	v	United States 156/2 (16.2 overs)
Samjhana Khadka 54 (28) Ritu Singh 2/23 (4 overs)		Ella Claridge 76 (45) Suman Bista 1/14 (2 overs)

USA women won by 8 wickets Mulpani International Cricket Ground, Kageshwari-Manohara Umpires: Rabindra Gupta (NEP) and Himal Raj Giri (NEP) Player of the match: Ella Claridge (USA)

• Nepal women won the toss and elected to bat.
• Preparation match before 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier.

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Match 2 9 January 2026 08:45 Scorecard

Scotland 183/6 (20 overs)	v	Nepal     156/6 (20 overs)
Kathryn Bryce * 62 (28) Rubina Chhetri 2/8 (2 overs)		Samjhana Khadka 52 (43) Darcey Carter 3/15 (3 overs)

Scotland women won by 27 runs Mulpani International Cricket Ground, Kageshwari-Manohara Umpires: Rabindra Gupta (NEP) and Ashish Jha (NEP) Player of the match: Kathryn Bryce (SCO)

• Scotland women won the toss and elected to bat.
• Preparation match before 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier.
• Kathryn Bryce was retired hurt due to an injury.

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Match 3 11 January 2026 01:15 Scorecard

United States 157/7 (20 overs)	v	Nepal     158/6 (19 overs)
Ella Claridge 39 (23) Manisha Upadhaya 2/31 (3 overs)		Samjhana Khadka 49 (32) Tara Norris 2/24 (3 overs)

Nepal women won by 4 wickets Mulpani International Cricket Ground, Kageshwari-Manohara Umpires: Rabindra Gupta (NEP) and Ashish Jha (NEP) Player of the match: Samjhana Khadka (NEP)

• United States women won the toss and elected to bat.
• Preparation match before 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier.
  
• The game was initially scheduled against Zimbabwe but was later rescheduled against the United States women.

Broadcasting

The opening match of the series was not streamed live. From the second match onwards, live coverage was made available on the Cricket Association of Nepal's official YouTube channel, using an analytical camera setup rather than a full professional broadcast. Live scores for all matches were provided through the CricClubs platform. ^{[11] [12]}

• CricClubs: Live Scores
• YouTube: Live Stream

Purpose

The tournament was intended to:

• Provide competitive match practice ahead of the Global Qualifier
• Assist team management in assessing player form and combinations
• Allow teams to acclimatise to playing conditions in Nepal

See also

• Nepal women's national cricket team
• 2026 Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier
• Cricket Association of Nepal

References

1. "इतिहास रचिँदै : नेपाली महिला टोलीले पहिलो पटक घरेलु मैदानमै टेस्ट राष्ट्रसँग खेल्ने". Kantipur TV. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
2. "आईसीसी महिला टी-२० विश्वकपको ग्लोबल छनोटको तयारीमा राष्ट्रिय महिला क्रिकेट टिम-३ देशसंग सिरिज खेल्ने". Kantipur TV. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
3. "Women's Prep Series ahead of the qualifiers". Facebook. Cricket Association of Nepal. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
4. Hamro Khelkud (7 January 2026). "आइसिसी महिला विश्वकप ग्लोबल क्वालिफायरअघि नेपाल, अमेरिका, स्कटल्याण्ड र जिम्बाब्वेसम्मिलित सिरिज हुँदैछ। नेपालले आज पहिलो खेल अमेरिकासँग खेल्दैछ।". Facebook (in Nepali). Retrieved 7 January 2026.
5. "Nepal to host 2026 T20 World Cup global qualifier". The Kathmandu Post. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
6. "Nepal to host ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifier (reissue with correction to para 3 regarding automatic qualifiers)". ICC. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
7. "All the squads for ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2026". ICC . Retrieved 7 January 2026.
8. "Nepal name squad for Women's T20 World Cup Global qualifiers". ICC . Retrieved 4 January 2026.
9. "Scotland women's squad named for T20 World Cup Qualifier". Cricket Scotland . Retrieved 11 December 2025.
10. "UNITED STATES AMERICA WOMEN (ICC WOMEN'S T-20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER)". CricClubs. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
11. "Live scores". CricClubs. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
12. "Cricket Association of Nepal YouTube Channel". YouTube. Cricket Association of Nepal. Retrieved 7 January 2026.