Nepal captain Rohit Paudel made a big statement after his team’s phenomenal performance against England in their opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup T20 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Nepal almost registered a historic victory as they came agonizingly close to chasing down a massive target of 185.
The Rohit Paudel-led side finished their innings on 180/6 in their allotted 20 overs, lost the match by just four runs. After his team’s remarkable show in the inaugural tournament, Paudel revealed that he was extremely proud of his players for their stellar effort and stated that Nepal was not at the World Cup just to participate but to compete strongly with every team in the tournament.
“I think the boys gave it their all. I’m very proud of them and the team’s collective effort. When we came to the ground today, the only message to the group was that whatever we have, we’re going to give it 110% on the ground. When we came to this World Cup, we didn’t just come here to participate, we want to compete. We had that belief in the group and we thought that if we play the best of all our sides today, we’ll play what the best. the best brand of cricket,” said Paudel in the post-match presentation.
FIFA World Cup T20: The best of England vs Nepal
Paudel also mentioned that even though the result did not go in their favor, the team gave 100 percent in every department. The Nepal captain further said that no side will take the affiliated teams in the tournament lightly.
Lokesh Bam fights till the end for Nepal
“We didn’t get the result but in terms of effort we gave 100% in every department. Sam Curran played really well in the last game. We’ll improve from that. We’ve been counting and in the last few games we wanted wickets in hand with ten runs to spare. It wasn’t planned to put Adil Rashid on; it just happened. I don’t think we’re going to take any of the other teams lightly or any of the other teams in this we will not take the tournament lightly.” That’s the message, but we as a team have to be 100%.
Paudel (39 off 34) and Dipendra Singh Airee (44 off 29) kept their team in the hunt during the middle overs with a massive partnership of 82 runs for the third wicket off 54 balls. After their dismissal Lokesh Bam (39* off 20) kept Nepal’s hopes alive with his late fireworks. However, with ten runs needed in the final over, Sam Curran (1/27) held his nerve and nailed perfect yorkers to guide England to a thrilling victory. Will Jacks was named man of the match for his fiery innings of 39* off 18 balls as well as taking figures of 1/17 in his two overs.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
February 8, 2026
