India: Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Around 18,000 Nepali spectators were present in Nepal's jersey and carrying Nepal's flag to watch the T20 World Cup match between Nepal and England.
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| Source: social media |
Nepal needed 10 runs in the last over to achieve a historic victory against England. Lokesh Bam was at the crease. Lokesh also made his debut in the T20 World Cup in this match. Similarly, at the other end was Nepal's Valentine Boy Karan KC.
England's Sam Curran came to bowl. England was also very tense in the last over. Lokesh hit a dot on Karan's first ball. After Karan and Lokesh took one run on the second and third balls, Nepal needed 8 runs in 3 balls to win.
Lokesh came on strike like a bomb. Lokesh took 2 runs on the fourth ball, keeping Nepal's chances alive. But he hit a dot on the fifth ball. Karan KC was about to run from the other end for a single. But Lokesh stopped. Then 6 runs were needed on the last ball to win. In such a situation, there was no option but to hit a six. But Lokesh could only take a single.
• Nepal scored 180 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the T20 World Cup against England, chasing a target of 185 runs, but lost by 4 runs.
• Lokesh Bam took the game to the last over with 39 runs in 20 balls, but could not secure the victory.
• England's Sam Curran bowled brilliantly under pressure in the last over, ensuring the victory.
Lokesh hit a few boundaries to turn the game, which was almost out of Nepal's hands, in Nepal's favor and took the game to the last ball of the last over. But even when the second-last ball was hit, there was some pressure on the last ball.
Chasing the target of 185 runs set by two-time T20 World Cup winners England, Nepal scored 180 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs, but could not win.
England won the match by 4 runs and started the innings with 2 points. These 2 points could have been important for Nepal in their goal of reaching the Super Eight, but Nepal could not score. The opportunity to win the World Cup after 12 years was also lost.
Lokesh, who batted at number six, scored an unbeaten 39 runs. He hit 4 fours and 2 sixes in 20 balls. Vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airi scored the highest 44 runs for Nepal. Captain Rohit Poudel scored 39 and Kushal Bhurtel scored 29 runs.
All the Nepali supporters present in the stadium were naturally saddened by this defeat, as well as the Nepali team. Lokesh himself is also saddened by this defeat as he could not win even after playing well until the last over.
‘There was nothing in mind in the last over. It was simple, if he bowled one ball, it would have been. We have always come close and failed to win against the Test nation. We failed today too. I am also sad,’ said Lokesh.
Lokesh himself bowed down on the field after playing the last ball. Although everyone gave a good response when he came out of the field, he was not happy. ‘Everyone’s response was good. I was not happy. I missed a couple of chances.’
Lokesh said that although he was very excited in his first World Cup, he lacked experience. ‘It was my first World Cup and I had been watching it from the beginning and there was excitement too. It seems that he missed in terms of experience,’ Lokesh told the media after the match, ‘It was normal that if you miss a ball, it is a matter of one hit. If you get one hit, it is okay.’
Nandan Yadav was asked in the post-match session about why Lokesh did not take a single on the second-last ball. Nandan said that Lokesh was hitting the ball well and had the ability to hit. So it was a good option to have him in the strike,' Nandan said after the match.
England all-rounder Will Jacks said that he was also nervous when the last over was being played but he had faith in Sam Curran. 'Yes, I was really nervous. My heart was beating fast when I stood on the boundary. But I had complete faith in Sam. He has handled such situations very well before,' Jacks said in the post-match conference, 'I have played with him in the "Invincibles" and he has successfully saved the last over many times. Full credit goes to him for that. He bowled yorkers very accurately and maintained his composure even under pressure. That was really brilliant.'
Will Jacks, who was named Player of the Match for England after an all-round performance, also said that winning the match was the most important thing. ‘Yes, without a doubt the most important thing is winning, which is what we aimed to achieve from the start of the match,’ said Will Jacks in the post-match conference. ‘The match was very tough and exciting. Full credit goes to Nepal. They were exceptionally good in all aspects, batting, bowling, fielding and running between the wickets. They pushed us till the end.’ Jacks said that nothing is easy in World Cup cricket and today’s match was also difficult. ‘That’s World Cup cricket. It’s not easy. We saw all the matches yesterday as very competitive. Many matches could have gone in both teams’ favor, and today was the same.So it is a good sign that the tournament has started like this (with a win),' he said.
Tough competition with Test nations, similar results
Nepal has been performing well against Test nations in recent times. Apart from winning the historic T20 series against the West Indies 2-1 some time ago, Nepal has always faced a similar situation when playing against Test nations on a big stage like the World Cup.
Be it the 19th Asian Games against India in Hangzhou, China in 2023 or the 1-run loss to South Africa in the T20 World Cup in the US and the West Indies in 2024. Then the loss to Bangladesh and now the loss to England.
In the 2024 match in the Caribbean, Nepal almost defeated South Africa but missed out by 1 run. When 2 runs were needed to win in the last two balls, Gulshan Jha bowled both balls and Nepal was denied a win.
This time, the same story repeated itself. As Lokesh said, Nepal is very sad that they could not achieve results even after playing well and coming close to winning.
After the match, Nandan was asked about the situation of Nepal when there was talk that the gap between Test nations and Associate nations was not much. Nandan initially answered by saying that this was a very difficult question. ‘I think this is a very difficult question, because we are competing with Test nations or are we trying to become a Test nation,’ Nandan said, ‘For that, first of all, we need to improve our domestic structure. Especially red-ball cricket, which we do not have enough of right now. Becoming a Test nation is also my dream, but in the current situation, it seems like a very challenging task.’
Although Nepal was defeated in today’s match, there were many positive things. There were moments like Sher Malla’s wicket on his debut and Dipendra’s four-man World Cup debut, completing 2,000 runs in T20Is.
But Nepal also showed confidence that they can perform like England and achieve a victory in the upcoming match. Nandan was also asked what lesson he learned from today's narrow defeat for the upcoming games. He responded by saying that he should hit sixes like Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "The lesson is, we should hit sixes more often, like Mahendra Singh Dhoni," Nandan replied with a laugh.
