England narrowly escaped a humiliating loss as Nepal was closing in to produce an unexpected result in the T20 World Cup 2026. According to the rules of the game, there is only one winner between two teams, and England is the winner of today’s (February 8) match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After the out-and-out thriller, England’s white-ball captain Harry Brook wishes the Nepal cricket team good luck for the rest of their campaign and admits that the contest was very close.
Harry Brook praised Nepal’s effort
The star-studded England bowling lineup was tricked by the batters of the Nepal cricket team. Not only the England camp, but also the entire cricket fraternity might not be able to predict that kind of fightback from the lower-ranked team. According to ICC Men’s T20I team rankings, England is at the third spot with 259 points, while Nepal is holding the 16th spot of the rankings with 176 points. But the scoreboard reads: England 184/7 (20) and Nepal 180/6 (20).
Kushal Bhurtel, Rohit Paudel, Dipendra Singh Airee, and obviously Lokesh Bam were prime performers with the bat for Nepal, who took their team close to the target score. 37-year-old experienced England spinner Adil Rashid turned out as the most expensive bowler for the team with a 14.00 economy rate after delivering 3 overs. Star pacer Jofra Archer went for an economy rate of 10.50 in his 4-over spell. Another pacer, Luke Wood, also had an economy rate over 10.
Brook considered himself lucky to win the match vs Nepal
After the match, Harry Brook, the England captain, said that the match was very tough for them. There are not many players around who can take on Adil Rashid. Brook stated that they were very fortunate to get home safely.
“It wasn’t easy at all, but thankfully we got over the line. They played extremely well, and I just heard you say that not many teams take out Adil Rashid the way they did. And I thought that they played against him outstandingly. And they put us in a tricky situation for quite a few occasions there as well,” Brook said.
The English skipper was very confident before the beginning of the second innings
He also confessed that he and his team might have taken their opponent on an easy note, especially during the break. He praised the national cricket team of Nepal for displaying high-class cricket against them.
“Definitely, I thought we were in a very good position to be able to defend that (on the thought during the break). And I didn’t quite think it was going to go as close as that, but hats off to the Nepalese team. They played extremely well, and I wish them all the best for the rest of the competition,” he explained during the post match presentation ceremony.
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