Kathmandu, March 7

Nepal will take on Scotland in their second match of Group B in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday.

Nepal, who went down to hosts Zimbabwe by 116 runs in their opening match on Sunday, are in a must-win situation to keep their Super Six round hopes alive.

Although, Nepal lost the opening match against hosts Zimbabwe, Nepali batsmen showed signs of improvement against the Test nation.

Sharad Vesawkar and Aarif Sheikh scored half centuries, while skipper Paras Khadka, his deputy Gyanendra Malla and Rohit Kumar Paudel got good starts against Zimbabwe.

On the other hand, Scotland have already won two matches and will be eyeing Super Six stage berth.

Scotland will be on a high as they have registered seven-wicket victory over Afghanistan and four-wicket win over Hong Kong in their previous two outings.

Nepal and Scotland have played three List A matches in the past and the European side have upper hand against their South Asian opponents.

Scotland had defeated Nepal by 90 runs in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in 2014 in New Zealand.

Similarly, Scotland defeated Nepal in the ICC World Cricket League Championship’s first round matches  in July 2015. Scotland beat Nepal by three runs in their first match and thrashed the visitors by nine wickets in second match.

However, Nepal’s performance in the ICC World Cricket League Division-II in Namibia last month showed that they could turn match in their favour at any moment.

Nepal will play their third match of the competition against Afghanistan on March 10 before taking on Hong Kong in their last match of the group on March 12.