ICC T20 World Cup is the biggest international tournament played in the T20 format. The International Cricket Council launched this event in the year 2007, with the aim of bringing about a change in the cricket world. After the first edition itself, T20 cricket gained enormous popularity in all parts of the world.
Over 100 countries play T20 cricket right now, and almost every Test-playing nation has its own T20 league, where the star cricketers compete against each other in the shortest format of the game. Qualifying for the ICC T20 World Cup is the first step towards greatness for any new cricketing nation.
Afghanistan gained prominence in world cricket after they made it to the T20 WC in 2010. The Asian side has played in every T20 World Cup after 2010. However, the following three nations qualified for the world event once and then never made it back.
1. Kenya played in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup
African nation Kenya made history by qualifying for the 2003 Cricket World Cup semifinals, but they have disappeared from the top-tier cricketing nations now. Kenya was one of the 12 teams in the inaugural T20 WC which happened in 2007. They exited the tourney early after suffering big defeats at the hands of Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
2. Nepal played in ICC T20 World Cup 2014
Asian team Nepal qualified for the mega event which happened in Bangladesh in the year 2014. They were placed alongside hosts Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong in Group A of the first round. Despite registering wins over Hong Kong and Bangladesh, Nepal exited the tournament from the first round itself due to inferior net run rate.
3. Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea made it to the T20 WC which happened last year in the UAE and Oman. They lost all three matches in the tournament and went home early.
