ICC Confirms Nepal to Host 15 U19 Women's World Cup Matches, Faces India Jan 24
All three of Nepal's group games are at Kirtipur. Eight tournament games go to Upper Mulpani, whose past ties to a 2014 graft case are unclear.
Nepal will host 15 of the 41 matches at the 2027 ICC Under19 Women's T20 World Cup, including a group stage game against India, the defending champion and winner of both previous editions, according to the schedule the International Cricket Council released on Wednesday, October 21, Setopati and DC Nepal reported.
It is the first time Nepal will host an Under19 World Cup, DC Nepal and Setopati reported. Fans in Nepal will not need to travel abroad to see their team. All three of Nepal's group games, against Ireland, India and West Indies, will be played at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, Setopati reported.
Nepal opens its campaign against Ireland on January 22, meets India on January 24, and closes the group phase against West Indies on January 26, all in Kirtipur, per Setopati's reading of the ICC schedule. India will also play its entire group stage in Kathmandu, facing West Indies on January 22 before Nepal and then Ireland on January 26.
Of the 15 matches hosted in Nepal, seven fall at Kirtipur and eight at the Mulpani ground, which Setopati names the Upper Mulpani International Cricket Ground, Setopati reported. The tournament opens on January 21 with two matches at Mulpani, Sri Lanka against Scotland and England against the United States. Sixteen teams are split into four groups of four, with the top three from each reaching the Super Six stage. Twelve group matches and three more matches after the group stage will be played in Kathmandu, Setopati reported, before both semifinals on February 4 and the final on February 6 move to Chattogram, Bangladesh.
This is the third edition of the tournament. India won both previous editions, in 2023 and 2025, Setopati reported. ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta said choosing Nepal and Bangladesh as co-hosts reflects the ICC's investment and trust in developing youth cricket, Setopati reported.
Mulpani's past
Setopati and DC Nepal did not mention the Mulpani ground's own history in their coverage of the schedule released on Wednesday, October 21.
In 2014, Nepal's anti corruption body, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, filed a charge sheet accusing 18 CAN office bearers, including then president Tanka Aangbuhang, of embezzling money meant for building the under-construction Mulpani cricket stadium and buying cricket gear, the Kathmandu Post reported at the time. One of four construction firms named in that charge sheet was Gaura Construction, which CAN signed in 2011 to build a Mulpani stadium, according to the construction history on Wikipedia's page for the ground. The CIAA put the loss at Rs 14.3 million, roughly $145,000 at Nepal Rastra Bank's mid-2014 rate of about Rs 98 to the dollar, and said the officials' failure to file CAN's financial report with the ICC on time cost the association a separate fine of $84,375, the Kathmandu Post reported.
A new stadium began construction in 2022, Wikipedia's history shows. The ground did not stage its first international match, an ODI between Oman and the UAE, until April 2023. It hosted its first women's T20 international only in January 2026, Wikipedia's sourced history shows.
Wikipedia lists the ground due to host next year's World Cup matches as a venue established in 2022 and tells readers not to confuse it with a facility it calls the Mulpani Cricket Stadium. The Kathmandu Post described the 2014 case as concerning money for the under-construction Mulpani cricket stadium. Whether the 2014 case concerned this same ground is not confirmed.
What we still do not know
What came of the 2014 CIAA case against Aangbuhang and the other officials remains unclear. The CIAA, the courts or CAN itself could say whether anyone was convicted. It is also not known whether Nepal's current cricket board has any members tied to that case, who is paying Nepal's share of hosting costs for January's tournament, when tickets for the Nepal India match go on sale, or whether CAN or the ICC has confirmed the Mulpani ground is fully built and certified for the 2027 tournament.
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Sources
- Setopati · Full schedule breakdown, Nepal-India fixture date, venue split, ICC CEO quote
- DC Nepal · Confirmation of 15 matches in Nepal and first-time host status, per CAN
- Kathmandu Post · 2014 CIAA corruption charge sheet against CAN officials over Mulpani construction funds
- Wikipedia · Mulpani ground's construction history, 2011 Gaura Construction contract, 2023 ODI debut, January 2026 first women's T20I
Editorial review record
Why it ran today
- ranking judge 1: ranked #2 with 70/100. The ICC's own schedule is a primary record, and Setopati, DC Nepal and ESPNcricinfo corroborate it. It gives Nepal 15 matches at Kirtipur and Mulpani, including Nepal vs India on January 24, a real pride story readers will tag. The desk can advance it by asking CAN about tickets and venue readiness. Never imply the grounds are ready, and label the event U-19 women's throughout. Weakest dimension: personal stakes.
- ranking judge 2: ranked #2 with 70/100. Confirmed. The ICC schedule is a primary record, and Setopati, DC Nepal and ESPNcricinfo corroborate it: 15 matches at Kirtipur and Mulpani, including Nepal vs India on January 24. It is a pride story readers will tag. Reach moves from 61 to 60 to match the rubric arithmetic. Weakest dimension: personal stakes.
What the desk dug up
- The record. Mulpani's 'Upper Ground' — set to host 8 of Nepal's 15 World Cup matches per Setopati's schedule breakdown — is the same stadium project where Nepal's anti-corruption body charged the sitting Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) president and 17 other officials in 2014 with embezzling funds earmarked for its construction and for cricket gear procurement. [Kathmandu Post (2014)] [Wikipedia, citing National Sports Council/CAN records]
- The numbers. The estimated cost of completing the Mulpani stadium rose over time from roughly Rs 760 million to about Rs 820 million due to repeated construction delays, after years of incremental government allocations (Rs 30 million in 2011, Rs 45 million in 2013, Rs 200 million in the 2014/15 budget, a further Rs 400 million demanded in 2019) that never matched the full build-out cost. [myRepublica (Nagarik Network)] [Wikipedia, citing budget records]
- Left out. Every outlet covering today's schedule release — including the two Nepali originals (Setopati, DC Nepal) and the English wires (Cricinfo, The Hindu, Daily Mirror, Telangana Today, BDCricTime) — reports the Mulpani venue only as a fixture location, with no mention of its two-decade construction history, prior corruption case, or any confirmation that it is currently complete and ICC-certified for international play. [Setopati] [DC Nepal]
Validation
1 red team round, 2 revisions. Decision: approved.
- accuracy86
- relevance78
- defensibility85
- reach59
Judge 1: The schedule facts check out against Setopati and DC Nepal and make a real pride story. But the card and caption drop the U19 women's label the ranking order demands. The buried angle also flatly ties the World Cup ground to a 2014 charge sheet that Wikipedia's own page suggests concerned a different Mulpani facility, with a named official and no verified outcome. Both are fixable in one pass, along with an unsourced 'first time ever' claim and a misattribution to CAN.
Judge 2: All eight of judge 2's ordered edits landed word for word: the Wikipedia and KP wording in Mulpani's past, the 'a Mulpani stadium' 2011 line, the October 21 date, the 'Setopati reported' paraphrase, the 'three more matches after the group stage' line, the para 2 grammar, and the split caption sentence. 'Remains unclear' stays on the 2014 case outcome because no verdict could be confirmed. The schedule facts, the card's 24-character lines, the dek and the headline all trace to Setopati and DC Nepal. The named former official appears only through KP's attributed charge sheet, with an explicit hedge, and nothing in the revision states that link flat. One residual weakness remains: the NRB rate of Rs 98 was never confirmed, and my memory puts it nearer 96, but 'roughly' covers the gap. Virality sits just under target because personal stakes are thin, and with no revisions left that does not justify rejecting an accurate, defensible pride story.
The complete record, including the advocate, skeptic, red team and defence arguments, is kept by the newsroom.
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