T20 World Cup 2026: England ‘relieved and happy’ after surviving scare against Nepal

The trend of associate nations stretching Test teams to the hilt in the Men’s T20 World Cup continued on the second day as Nepal almost pulled off a heist against title contender England at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Will Jacks, the Player-of-the-Match, gave full credit to Nepal for living up to the challenge right till the end.

“Obviously, the most important thing is the win, which is what we aimed to do at the start of the game. Obviously incredibly tight, full credit to Nepal, they were absolutely outstanding. With the bat, in the field, running between the wickets, they pushed us right to the very end of that,” Jacks said. “That’s World Cup cricket, it’s going to be tough. We saw every game yesterday, incredibly tight. Multiple games could have gone either way, same again today, so it’s a good start to the tournament.”

Jacks admitted that the England camp heaved a sigh of relief, with Sam Curran using all his experience to defend 10 runs in the last over.

“Right now, a sense of relief and happiness,” Jacks said, when asked about the camp’s overriding feeling minutes after the match.

“We came into this game just simply trying to win, and that’s what we’ve done. In that sense, it’s a job done. In another sense, it’s brilliant to continue that preparation going forward for more games to come. We know we are going to be in similar situations. Every single game is important. You can’t go into any game expecting to win or expecting to do certain things. We are very happy to win today.”

One of the highlights of the game turned out to be a turnout in excess of 17,000—dominated by Nepalese fans—thronging to the Wankhede Stadium. Despite losing the game by a whisker, the Nepal squad did a lap of the ground to acknowledge the support.

“That’s the love of our crowd. Wherever we go, it feels like home ground. I am very thankful to all the supporters,” said pacer Nandan Yadav.

“I want to say sorry for the result, but we will improve. The crowd is amazing—they love cricket and the atmosphere. We are really grateful to them,” Nandan added.

Published on Feb 08, 2026