Nepal came agonisingly close to producing a major upset, but England scraped home by four runs in their 2026 T20 World Cup Group C clash at Mumbai on Sunday. Half-centuries from Jacob Bethell (55 off 35) and skipper Harry Brook (53 off 32), plus a brisk 39 off 18 from Will Jacks, lifted England to 184/7 in their 20 overs. Chasing 185, Nepal stayed in the hunt until the final ball thanks to strong knocks by Kushal Bhurtel (29 off 17), Rohit Paudel (39 off 34), Dipendra Singh Airee (44 off 29) and Lokesh Bam (39 off 20). With 10 required from the last over, Sam Curran held firm to secure victory for England.
TOSS-
England won the toss and chose to bat first.
PLAYING XI
Nepal:
Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Rohit Paudel (c), Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Lokesh Bam, Gulsan Jha, Karan KC, Nandan Yadav, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sher Malla
England:
Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood
ENGLAND-
Amid a sea of Nepal supporters at the Wankhede, England opted to bat on the same worn pitch used for the previous night’s India-USA fixture. The decision looked shaky when debutant Sher Malla removed Phil Salt with his first delivery in T20Is. Bethell soon counter-attacked, dispatching three short balls from the left-armer to the fence.
Jos Buttler struck four quick boundaries before edging behind, yet England still closed the PowerPlay at 57/2. Leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane struck with his opening ball, trapping Tom Banton lbw as the reverse-sweep misfired. Bethell raced to fifty with consecutive sixes, while Brook punished Lamichhane through the off-side to keep England on course for a competitive total.
We are seeing Airee getting Bethell out when he made 55 runs, and he also took Curran’s wicket who could only score 2 runs from 8 balls. Basically, Lamichhane finished with just one run in the 17th over, then Brook hit a six to reach 50 in the 18th but got out the same next ball. The last over became the turning point itself when Jacks attacked Karan KC and hit three sixes, further scoring 21 runs in that over. The last ball of England’s innings itself went for six runs, which was further the same runs Nepal needed from their final ball while chasing.
NEPAL-
Kushal Bhurtel actually hit Jofra Archer three times to the boundary through the offside during the chase. Nepal definitely started their big chase with confidence. Further, we are seeing the batsman hit a four and six only, then Aasif Sheikh also hit the ball to the boundary as Nepal quickly reached 31 runs without losing any wicket in three overs. When runs were actually coming easily, Liam Dawson definitely got a wicket in his first over as Aasif hit the ball in the air to fine-leg while trying to sweep. We are seeing that the wicket stopped the scoring and this only led to Bhurtel getting out, giving Jacks a simple catch back to him.
Moreover, when Adil Rashid actually started bowling in the seventh over, Nepal definitely began hitting big shots again and scored 13 runs from his first over. Dipendra Singh Airee actually continued from that point and definitely took the attack to Jacks as well. He used the sweep and reverse-sweep shots well as England continued to give away runs in the middle overs, which further weakened their bowling performance itself. As per the match records, Rohit Paudel and Airee scored 19 runs in the 14th over against Rashid’s bowling. Regarding Rashid’s performance, he gave away 42 runs which is the most runs any England spinner has given in T20 World Cups.
After the big over from Rashid, Nepal surely lost Airee’s wicket when he was caught by Tom Banton at deep cover for 44 runs. Moreover, this dismissal ended their important 82-run partnership. Paudel was surely dismissed by Dawson (4-0-21-2), and moreover, England completely regained their momentum in the match. Basically, Bam hit some boundaries off Sam Curran and brought the same equation down to 46 runs needed in the last three overs. Bam kept hitting big shots and scored 22 runs from Archer’s over with three sixes, as per which only 24 runs were needed from 12 balls regarding the match situation.
Further, bam scored four runs off the first ball from Luke Wood, then hit the ball over mid-off to reduce the target to 10 runs in the final over, but this proved difficult as Curran bowled perfect yorkers, repeating his performance from the 2022 World Cup itself. The bowling performance further helped secure the victory.
Brief Scores:
England actually scored 184/6 in 20 overs with Jacob Bethell making 55 and Harry Brook hitting 53, while Dipendra Singh Airee and Nandan Yadav took 2 wickets each. They definitely beat Nepal by just 4 runs, as Nepal could only manage 180/6 despite Dipendra Singh Airee’s 44 and Lokesh Bam’s unbeaten 39.
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