Nepal fell narrowly short of a sensational upset as England emerged victorious by just 4 runs in their T20 World Cup 2026 Group C clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (February 8).
Opting to bat first, the two-time champions posted 184/7 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of half-centuries from Jacob Bethell (55 off 35) and captain Harry Brook (53 off 32) and a fiery cameo from Will Jacks (39 off 18).
Chasing the stiff target, Nepal batters did a fabulous job to take the game deep, thanks to contributions from Kushal Bhurtel (29 off 17), skipper Rohit Paudel (39 off 34), Dipendra Singh Airee (44 off 29) and Lokesh Bam (39 off 20).
However, England all-rounder Sam Curran held his nerve to defend 10 runs in the last over, restricting Nepal to 180/6.
After losing the last-over thriller, Nepal players received standing ovation from fans at the iconic venue in Mumbai. Paudel and his men took a lap of appreciation, thanking their passionate fans who travelled all the way from Kathmandu to support the team.
Following the game, former South African cricketer Dale Steyn took to X and lauded Nepal’s strong show. The legendary pacer also offered his services to the team if the management ever needed it.
“Nepal. I offer my services to you if you ever need em! Up, up and UP,” Steyn wrote on X.
At the post-match presser, Nepal seamer Nandan Yadav was left speechless after he was made aware about Steyn's offer.
“So that's a big thing for us. Someone, some legend, like he ruled the cricket for 10 years, and he is tweeting something like this. But it's like the can management team, so we can't approach him. Maybe we can, so I don't know how to answer this one,” Nandan told reporters.
Earlier, Nepal captain Rohit Paudel expressed pride in his team as they came close to scripting history against one of the heavyweight sides in the competition.
“Disappointment is there, but at the same time I’m very proud of the team,” Paudel told former England captain Nasser Hussain in the post-match interview. “The way the boys have shown that effort against England, that takes a lot of appreciation. When we stepped up today on the ground, the only message to the group was that whatever we have, we’ll give a 110% in the ground. And I think boys have given all that they had, and that’s what makes them different, and I’m very proud of them.”
Paudel also made it clear that Nepal aren’t just here to make up numbers at the World Cup. “We had that belief when we came to this World Cup. We didn’t come here to just participate. We wanted to compete, and we had that belief in the group that we can beat any of the sides, if we play our best brand of cricket, and I thought today we played our best brand of cricket."
