T20 World Cup 2026: West Indies scored a hat-trick of wins… Team reached Super Eight with big win over Nepal

Mumbai: After a brilliant performance by the bowlers led by experienced all-rounder Jason Holder, on the basis of excellent play by the top-order batsmen, West Indies secured their place in the Super Eight by defeating Nepal by nine wickets with 28 balls to spare in the Group C match of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday. For Nepal, Deependra Singh Airi played a brilliant inning of 58 runs in 47 balls, due to which his team was successful in scoring 133 runs for eight wickets after being invited to bat first. Airi hit three fours and as many sixes in his innings. Apart from him, Sompal Kami contributed unbeaten 26 runs with the help of four fours in 15 balls.

In response, West Indies easily achieved the target by scoring 134 runs for one wicket in 15.2 overs. From his side, captain Shai Hope scored unbeaten 61 runs on 44 balls which included five fours and three sixes. Shimron Hetmyer scored unbeaten 46 runs on 32 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes. Both of them made an unbroken partnership of 91 runs for the second wicket. This was West Indies’ third consecutive win, strengthening their position at the top of Group C with six points. They are the first team to reach the Super Eight. England is second in this group with four points. This is Nepal’s third consecutive defeat and it is out of the race for Super Eight. The foundation of West Indies’ victory was laid by its bowlers. Holder was the most successful bowler from his side. He took four wickets for 27 runs in his four overs.
Matthew Ford bowled economically and took one wicket for 10 runs in four overs. Holder was named player of the match.
West Indies adopted an aggressive approach in batting from the beginning. Brandon King (22 off 17 balls) hit a four on the first ball of KC Curran’s innings. He hit three fours in the fifth over of Sompal’s innings but was caught at mid-on in the next over of Nandan Yadav.
West Indies scored 44 runs for one wicket in the powerplay. Hetmyer hit the first six of the innings on Sandeep Lamichane’s googly. After this he also sent Nandan’s ball for six runs. Hope was scoring runs with ease. He hit his first six off the ball of Kushal Bhurtel. Hope completed his half-century in 38 balls by hitting a six off Lamichane, which is his 10th fifty in T20 international cricket.

He again hit a six on the same bowler and then scored the winning run. Nepal’s most experienced bowler Lamichane gave 38 runs in three overs. Earlier, had it not been for Ari’s fighting innings and Kami’s brilliant performance in the last overs, Nepal’s team would have been restricted to a very low score due to the disappointing performance of its specialist batsmen. Airy presented a good example of his patience and aggressive attitude despite the fall of wickets from the other end. He hit every loose ball hard while his running between the wickets was good. Nepal had scored only 46 runs till the 11th over and in the meantime they had lost five wickets. Nepal’s batsmen gave away their wickets in reward by playing bad shots. Trouble started for Nepal in the very first over when Kushal Bhurtel (01) was dismissed by Akil Hossain.

Nepal captain Rohit Paudel (05) also lost his wicket due to his mistake. He missed a flick down the leg side and was out LBW to Ford. But perhaps the worst shot was played by Arif Shaikh, who was caught at fine leg on the ball outside Holder’s leg stump. Nepal’s score at the end of the sixth over was 22 runs for three wickets. In this way he scored the lowest score in powerplay in this T20 World Cup. Lokesh Bam (13), who was Nepal’s hero in the match against England, was out cheaply and Gulshan Jha (11) also flopped. However, the 54-run partnership between Airi and Kami took Nepal to a respectable score.