Nepal run England close in thriller at Wankhede

The phase from 14-17 overs produced just 19 runs but in the last three overs England got 45 to set Nepal a target of 185 in the T20 World Cup 2026 fixture in Mumbai. That gave them the momentum going into the second half. Some balls were holding into the pitch and there was appreciable turn for Sandeep Lamichhane.

Two good knocks from Jacob Bethell and Harry Brook set England up earlier on. The left-hander was helped by some poor bowling from Sher Malla and Brook showed his great hand-eye coordination with a couple of sixes. The finish came from Jacks who struggled initially for timing and rhythm. This definitely looked a better pitch than the one used last night in the India versus USA game.

Jacob Bethell, who top-scored with 55 for England, reckoned they have enough on the board at the halfway mark.

“The off-pace deliveries were pretty hard [to hit],” he says. “With the tacky nature of the wicket, we’ll probably look to use a bit more off-pace for our seamers, but [against] the spinners is where it definitely was a bit tougher, especially in that middle period where we were trying to get on with it, it looked hard to come in and start [your innings].

“For the seamers, it’ll definitely be use your change of pace, get the ball into the wicket and let the wicket do the work for you. For the spinners, my advice would be keep the stumps in play and let the pitch do the work.”

Overhauling 184/7 seemed a reach for Nepal at the innings break but when Jofra Archer leaked three fours in his first over, it made everyone do a double check. Then, Luke Wood got taken for 15 runs in the follow-up over. England were sweating at this point but Liam Dawson and Will Jacks put the brakes on the scoring with quick strikes.

Rohit Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee combined for an excellent stand but when Nepal lost two wickets to spin, England thought they could attack further with Adil Rashid only for the Nepal batters to hoard 42 runs in just 3 overs. The Nepal batters were struggling to hit the cutters off the pace bowlers but Lokesh Bam led a late charge to give his team a lot of hope. When it came down to 10 needed off the ultimate over, Curran bowled some pinpoint yorkers and Lokesh couldn’t dispatch them away.