Among the many impressive performances we have witnessed from associate teams in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Nepal has turned the most heads. Playing only their third T20 World Cup, not many would have expected them to give a two-time champion in England a run for their worth. But they did, and could have done more, if not for an excellent last over from Sam Curran.
That four-run defeat will be archived in books of history, but in the rapidly changing world of cricket, Nepal now faces the challenge of not letting the nascent accolades and admiration — from both fans and legends of the game like Dale Steyn — lead to complacency.
For, in their next match, they will not be any tugging-at-heart-strings understory story to adhere to. Rather, Nepal will, for a change, begin as favourites, when they take on T20 World Cup debutants Italy in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on 12 February.
While Nepal did not necessarily feel any pressure ahead of the England clash, for the latter were the overwhelming favourites to be triumphant, thousands of Nepali fans and neutral spectators will expect them to make hay while the sun is shining, and beat Italy.
Are the Nepali cricketers confident in their pressure-mitigation prowess? The Quint asked this question to captain Rohit Paudel in the pre-match press conference. He answered:
When you play a World Cup, there is obviously pressure. Everyone back home in Nepal wants you to play well for the country. So, obviously the pressure will be there but the team which will handle the pressure well], I think that team will win. We have played a lot of cricket now, and our team knows how to handle pressure. We have played against in front of big crowds, so players know how to handle those situations. So, we'll do that.Rohit Paudel
Rohit Paudel’s Plea to Cricket’s Big Boys: Please Come to Nepal
The match against England was not the first instance of Nepal coming agonisingly close to a major upset. At the 2024 T20 World Cup, they nearly got the better of South Africa, but could not score 2 runs in the last couple of deliveries.
Despite that monumental effort, though, Nepal have played against only one series against a Test-playing nation in the last couple of years. He expects that to change after the England game.
After the game against South Africa in the World Cup, we only played a series against West Indies, a test playing country. And in two years, it shows that we didn't get that exposure and experience which we thought we would get after that World Cup. But unfortunately, we could not get it. So I think that is very important for us to get exposure and experience playing against some of the good teams and testing our skills in front of them so I thought we didn't get that but we were playing games - but if we get an opportunity of playing them regularly in a year I would say not six seven series but at least one or two series so that we can test ourselves in front of them. So that would be very good. So I hope that after this World Cup, it changes.Rohit Paudel
He also extended an invitation to cricket’s big boys to tour Nepal.
My message would be a warm welcome to all those teams in Nepal to come out there and play with us. They will love in Kirtipur, Kathmandu to play against us and they will get a warm welcome in Nepal. I think I will mean a lot, especially if the Australian team or England team comes to Nepal. That will show world cricket that Nepal also plays cricket, and it plays decent cricket. And this World Cup has shown that. Last World Cup, we played decent. This World Cup, we came back much more stronger. So I think if Australia, England, India whoever comes, I think our cricket will grow and it will help to globalise the cricket more, so I think it's very important.Rohit Paudel