T20 World Cup 2021: 3 teams that qualified for only one edition of the tournament
The ICC T20 World Cup is the biggest T20 international competition on earth right now. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has tried to introduce the sport in newer regions, and the T20 format has been the easiest one to market.
Only 10 teams played in the 50-over World Cup played in 2019, but 16 teams are currently participating in the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup. Teams like Namibia and Papua New Guinea have qualified for the mega event for the first time in cricket history.
Although both teams have struggled in the tournament so far, they will gain a lot of experience that will help them become a top cricketing nation in the coming years.
Teams like Afghanistan and Ireland have made significant progress in world cricket after performing well at the T20 World Cups.
However, not every new country could use this platform consistently. The ICC organizes many qualifying tournaments for the mega events, and the following three teams managed to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup only once in the previous six editions.
1. Kenya
2003 Cricket World Cup semi-finalists Kenya are no longer a force to reckon with in African cricket.
There was a time when the Kenyan side would record wins over the top-tier teams in world cricket. However, Kenya has never won a match in the ICC T20 World Cup history.
The Kenyan outfit qualified for the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, where they lost both of their group stage matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Although Kenya have only played two matches in ICC T20 World Cup history, they have a couple of dismal records to their name.
Playing against Sri Lanka, the Kenyan bowlers conceded 260 runs in 20 overs. They lost the match by 172 runs. Kenya set the record for the most runs conceded and the biggest defeat (in terms of runs) in an ICC T20 World Cup match.
2. UAE
Group A in the 1st round of #wt20 2014: #ban /#afg #nep #hk;
Group B in the 1st round of #wt20 2014: #zim /#ire #uae #ned
The United Arab Emirates is one of the two host countries for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. However, the UAE cricket team is not a part of the competition this year.
The UAE team has qualified for the T20 World Cup only once in their cricket history. They made their T20 World Cup debut in 2014.
However, they failed to win a single match in Group B and were eliminated before the Super 10 stage of the tournament.
3. Nepal
Happy birthday to Nepal's Shakti Gauchan!
Watch him take a brilliant 3/9 against Hong Kong at #WT20 in 2014! https://t.co/3V9gl4laPF
Check out yesterday T20 World Cup match result here in case you missed out.
Another Asian team to feature on this list is Nepal. The Nepalese team made history by qualifying for the ICC T20 World Cup in 2014. They performed well and registered two wins in three matches.
However, Nepal failed to make it to the Super 10 round because of an inferior net run rate. They had the same number of points as Bangladesh in Group A of Round 1. Bangladesh's net run rate was 1.466, while Nepal had a net run rate of 0.933.
Although Nepal have a 66.67% win record in ICC T20 World Cup matches, they have not qualified for the tournament since their maiden appearance in 2014.