Fans react to Nepal’s heartbreaking four-run defeat to England

As England made a winning start to the T20 World Cup with a nervous five runs in the last over by Sam Curran, to give them plenty of relief.

After half a century from Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell, Nepal was given a demanding chase. It opened their innings powerfully through Kushal Bhurtel’s three boundaries in four balls from Jofra Archer’s first over. Then, with a blistering 82 partnership from Dependra Singh Airee and Rohit Paudel off only 54 balls, only 62 runs were required to win off the last six overs.

However, after both men were out within eight balls, the match looked over. However, no one had told Bam as he connected with consecutive boundaries off Curran and cleared the fence with two sixes off Archer. During the nineteenth over, bowled by Luke Wood, he managed to give up an additional 14 runs as he struggled to find his groove, allowing Bam to cut and strike 2 more boundaries, and leave 10 runs required from the final over, creating absolute chaos amongst Nepal’s thousands of supporters who travelled to Mumbai.

Bam had to clear the boundary on the final delivery, but Curran maintained his yorker strategy at the death and delivered an accurate yorker that meant Bam could only toe-end to deep extra cover and see his teammates celebrate a nerve-racking win for England. After losing by one run to South Africa in St Vincent in the 2024 tournament, this was another heartbreak for Nepal; however, they gave England, who are two-time world champions in this format, a very close run.

Player of the Match was Jacks, who took the wicket of Bhurtel while smashing 39 not out from No. 7, including three final-over sixes to end England’s innings in style. This was in stark contrast to how Nepal chased down the runs, and Paudel will be regretting returning to his seam bowlers at the end, which meant Airee’s fourth over went unused.

Paudel said after a heartbreaking defeat:

The whole of Nepal came here to support us. It’s great to see them here, and that motivates us: when we went to the ground, we carried your hopes, we carried your belief. Today, we gave everything, and all of Nepal will be very proud of us.

England’s Mixed Bowling Display Keeps the Contest Alive

England arrived at the World Cup following a victorious series in Sri Lanka, where they won by three clean victories. However, they started the tournament in a bad way as far as ball performance is concerned. One player was in good form – Liam Dawson – coming into the team for his first game at the International Cricket Council World Cup at the age of 35 years old. He produced a positive return of 2 wickets at 21 runs in 4 overs. Unfortunately, Jofra Archer would normally be part of the success story for England bowling, bu the took 17 runs from his two overs, as did Adil Rashid, who was below his normal standard after taking 4 for 24 in 10 overs.

Ram Naresh Paudel (44 runs) and Sagar Aree (37 runs) were the two players who took responsibility for controlling the innings for Nepal by scoring runs at regular intervals while not falling behind the run rate throughout the entire innings. Paudel was the top bowler with 3/29 off 10 overs, and Airee produced some powerful shots to keep the scoreboard moving and giving Nepal a chance at a successful chase of the target.

As England’s leg-spinner went without producing a wicket against his third over (the 14th of the innings), the partnership scored 19 runs off Rashid Khan’s fourth over (his first T20I in 25 matches). After hitting a large drag-down, the two batsmen both completed big hits with Airee hitting an unbelievable reverse-slog sweep over point, also through cover.

However, both batsmen fell quickly after being out-caught in the deep, with Airee out for the second wicket to Tom Curran and Paudel caught brilliantly as the bowler was bowled by Dawson in the 27th over. The attacking intent shown by both men was rewarded when Bam hit two slower balls for six to finish with 22 runs in Johnny Bairstow’s 1st innings and to bring their innings to within a run of winning the match.

On a slow pitch eventually, England aimed to make the most of fielding restrictions, but they suffered three early wickets in 6.1 overs after Nepal (playing against England for the first time in international cricket) hit early each time they bowled a spell.

Nepal Strikes Early to Dent England’s Powerplay Plans

Two of England’s openers fell during the first power play. Sher Malla (spinning on debut) took Salt’s first ball of his over – softly edging to long leg. Jos Buttler (just looking to accelerate – having faced no balls and got off the mark almost immediately) had Yadav take his second ball of the day and edge it; Buttler, having scored 26 runs (very early), was out caught in the same over.

After a brilliant series vs. Sri Lanka, Tom Banton was promoted to 4 to replace Ben Duckett. He survived a dropped catch and bowled in the last powerplay, but off the next ball was struck plumb lbw by Lamichhane, and now the score was 57/3 (tb) after 6 overs played.

While he was not known for his batting prowess at No. 3 in T20I matches, Bethell did not allow this to affect his debut match at the senior level with the ICC. He immediately began his innings by hitting two fours and one six off Malla and then followed up with two consecutive six-hit deliveries from Bhurtel, hitting his second fifty off 28 balls.

After a slow start, Brook came into form with a big hit off Lamichhane but ended up stuck at the non-striker’s end after Bethell fell to Airee, scoring only seven runs from the next 26 balls as both Curran and Jacks were unable to find any rhythm with their bats. Curran ended up dragging Airee onto his own stumps.

Brook ended the innings with a poor shot to deep point after scoring his fifty in 31 deliveries, but Jacks hit three consecutive over the off-side for six against Karan KC to finish strongly on the last ball of the game.

Here’s How the Fans Reacted to the England vs Nepal Match

Fans React to Nepal Losing by Four Runs

🚨 HEARTBREAK FOR NEPAL FANS. 🚨

– England won the match by just 4 runs against Nepal at Wankhede.

Hats off, Nepal. You were close to creating history. This isn’t a defeat, this is a statement by Nepal team. 🇳🇵 pic.twitter.com/sYO5NlelSd

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 8, 2026

Fans React to Associate Teams Performing Well in the Ongoing World Cup 2026

Man the associates and underdog teams are really performing well in this T20WC.

But aren't able to close the match in their favour.

Only Pakistan amongst them managed to win against the Netherlands.

Well played NEPAL 💯 #ENGvsNEP pic.twitter.com/rWrnYObqUx

— . (@Rohiiittt45) February 8, 2026

Twitter Creates Memes on England’s Gameplay

English cricket sums up pic.twitter.com/CSbqnL7BO9

— 𝓜𝓸𝓮𝔃 𝓐𝓱𝓶𝓮𝓭 𝓴𝓱𝓪𝓷 (@MoezAhmedKhan1) February 8, 2026

Fans Appreciate Nepal’s Performance vs England

They played better cricket than Pakistan, India and England

— Aqib Khan (@aaqii401) February 8, 2026

Cricket Enthusiasts React to Nepal Falling Short of Just 4 Runs

HEARTBREAK IN MUMBAI. 💔🇳🇵

​So near yet so far! Nepal fall just 4 runs short against England at the Wankhede. From 161/5 to a final over thriller—Lokesh Bam (35 off 15) and the boys gave the world champions a massive scare.

​Absolute heroes. They didn't just play a game; they…

— Hitman_hits (@Hitman_Hits264) February 8, 2026

Fans React to Nepal’s Strong Performance

NEPAL. BELONGS. HERE. 🇳🇵

To take England to the very last over in a 180+ chase… the grit is unbelievable. This isn't an "upset alert" anymore; it’s a warning to the world. The Rhinos are here to stay! 🏏🔥#NepalCricket #T20WorldCup2026 #Wankhede pic.twitter.com/ArDqEYtxQm

— Muthuvel tweets (@Muthuvelpandiy) February 8, 2026

Twitter’s Reaction After England vs Nepal

Best Cricket Teams in Asia

🥇- INDIA 🇮🇳
🥈- Afghanistan 🇦🇫
🥉- Nepal 🇳🇵

— Aadarsh VAJPAI 🇮🇳 (@being_INDIAN_11) February 8, 2026