KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's dream is to qualify for their first-ever ICC men's T20 World Cup.
And Bilal Asad's cricket team will have a chance to achieve it through the World Cup Final Asia in Kathmandu, which starts tomorrow.
Malaysia are among the eight team vying for two World Cup berths in Kathmandu.
Malaysia, ranked 25th in the world, are in Group A with world No. 16 Nepal, 19th-ranked Oman and 36th-ranked Singapore. Group B comprises the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Malaysia will open their campaign against Oman tomorrow, followed by matches against Nepal on Tuesday and Singapore on Thursday.
Malaysia qualified for the Final Asia event after topping the Asia Qualifier B tournament in Klang in July.
During the tournament, they secured victories over China by eight wickets, Bhutan by 75 runs, Myanmar by 185 runs and Thailand by seven wickets.
Syazrul Ezat Idrus was the star during the Qualifier B event by becoming the first bowler in the world to take seven wickets when Malaysia took on China on July 26.
The cricket team are growing in confidence following their promising showing at the recent Hangzhou Asian Games. They gave world No.9 Bangladesh a scare before going down by just two runs in the quarter-finals.
Team manager Amy Mokhzani said his team are well-oiled for the mission after several weeks of intensive training.
"I believe all the teams in Kathmandu are eager to win a place in the World Cup next year and we share that ambition.
"We are seeded third in our group, but we hope to defy the odds to qualify for the semi-finals.
"We have to reach the final to earn a World Cup berth. We have Khizar Hayat Durani, Rizwan Haider and Fitri Sham back in the team. The trio did not play in Hangzhou.
"We have not played Oman in the T20 format in recent years but we hope for a strong start," said Amy