Mumbai: Six balls after Nepal’s 2026 T20 World Cup opener began, the Wankhede Stadium, smitten by a brush of blue and red under the afternoon sun, erupted; never mind that Sher Malla took a tumble from his overzealous celebrations after removing Phil Salt off his first ball in international cricket.
Six balls before its end, the Wankhede Stadium, by now swelled and shining under lights, was abuzz in anticipation of an uplifting finish; never mind that the 11 Englishmen on the park, also dressed in red and blue, were under the pump.
Two-time champions England were matched toe to toe by a team featuring in just its third men’s T20 World Cup. Their fans, of all that Barmy Army heritage, were comfortably outnumbered in the 17,000-plus by those assembled from across the border and around the globe chanting “Nepal, Nepal”.
This was World Cup cricket like it was meant to be. Even if the result, oh so close and not so far in a four-run defeat, wasn’t meant to be for Nepal.
One big hit separated a tiny Himalayan country from a victory of epic proportions against a mighty Test playing nation of the ‘Big Three’ ilk. In the end what made the difference, after 40 overs of a Sunday afternoon slugfest, was the final over. Across both innings.
Will Jacks unleashed three mammoth strikes over the fence in a 21-run last over by Karan KC that lifted England’s total to 184/7. Not that the chase was too tall for Nepal, who were right in it, behind it, and then in front of it for it all to come down to 10 off 6.
The finish line was well in sight, only for left-arm pacer Sam Curran to keep finding his yorkers in a brilliant display of death-overs bowling. That meant Lokesh Bam, who had whacked Jofra Archer for back-to-back sixes a couple of overs ago to bring his team to that position and the crowd on their feet, and Karan could not find a single hit to the fence.
Wankhede was hushed. England were relieved. Nepal were frustrated, and proud.
This was the second time in as many T20 World Cups that Nepal had given more established cricket powerhouses a run for their money. In the 2024 edition, they were nearly there against South Africa in Kingstown in a one-run defeat. In the 2026 edition, they were nearly there against a team that had won 10 of its past 11 completed T20Is.
“We feel both – regret as well and proud as well,” Nepal fast bowler Nandan Yadav said. “Because, we are competing against a really good team like England, and were really close to winning the game.”
That seems to be the early theme of this World Cup for the Associate nations: Close, but no cigar.
Yet, while Pakistan did Pakistan things against the Netherlands and India’s red-hot top-order had one of those collective rare off days against USA, England were by no means off the boil here.
Asked to bowl, Nepal placed their foot on the pedal from the onset against an intimidating batting unit boasting a fearsome opening pair. Malla had Salt top edge a heave to the on-side and Yadav had Jos Buttler cutting a ball too close.
Jacob Bethell (55, 35b) and captain Harry Brook (53, 32b) strung a counter-attacking 71-run stand for the fourth wicket, both bringing up their fifties with sixes. But while the former used his backfoot play against spin to damaging effect, other English batters largely struggled for flow against Nepal’s rich spin attack of Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane and Kushal Bhurtel. It needed a late flourish by Jacks (39 not out, 18b) to give wings to their total.
Not that Nepal would be clipped with the bat. They matched England at almost every step: 47/2 in the Powerplay (England were 57/2) and 85/2 in 10 overs (England were 84/3).
After opener Bhurtel set the tone with a 17-ball 29, captain Rohit Paudel (39, 34b) and Dipendra (44, 29b) took over. The duo was particularly severe on leg-spinner Adil Rashid, sweeping him and lofting him over covers for boundaries. Dipendra even hit an audacious switch hit for six.
The two kept Nepal on track, before their dismissals derailed them and dragged the equation to 46 off 18. Nepal were unfancied then, until Lokesh’s two sixes and two fours off Archer and Luke Wood brought it down to 10 off 6. Nepal were fancied then, until Curran made England scrape through for a win that got a lot closer than they would’ve liked.
“Full credit to Nepal,” said Jacks. “They pushed us right to the very limit there.”
