Mumbai : Nepal defeated Scotland by 7 wickets at Mumbai in Group C encounter and ended their ICC T20 WC 2026 campaign on high note on back of Dipendra Singh Airee’s half century when the team was under pressure. This was Nepal’s first win in the tournament’s history since 2014, and 3rd overall.
In first innings, Scotland being put into Bat, started strong, racing to 52/0 in powerplay. But medium-pacer Sompal Kami engineered a Nepal recovery in the last five overs.
Though they lost captain George Munsey for 27, Scotland kept up the scoring rate, piling 131/1 in 15 overs. Michael Jones kept Scotland on the offensive for most part with a standout innings of 71 off 45 balls, with the help of eight fours and three sixes
Just when Scotland looked like they were going up a gear, the experienced Kami pegged them back with two wickets in the 16th over. After castling Jones, Kami plucked an superb return catch to pack off Brandon McMullen (25). Momentum was now with Nepal, and their bowlers, buoyed by the support at the Wankhede, pulled the rug from under Scotland in the slog overs.
In the last five overs, Scotland scored 39 runs and lost 6 wickets, snd ended on 170-7 (20). Kami finished with 3/25 in his four overs.
Nepal, chasing 171, began finding early boundaries in the powerplay. Openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh had amassed 56 runs in the first six overs to ease their side into the chase.
Leask broke the opening partnership between Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh to bring Scotland back into the game. The opening duo had added 74 runs off 9.1 overs before Leask managed to induce a miscued shot off Bhurtel (43).
Leask then nabbed another wicket in his opening burst, getting the better of Aasif Sheikh with 94 runs on the board. To mount further pressure on Nepal, he also managed to get rid of skipper Rohit Paudel.
Airee’s innings with the bat came on the back of a Scotland fightback with the ball, ignited by Michael Leask’s three-wicket haul.
Both Airee and Gulsan Jha (24*) notched match winning 73 (36) runs partnership, from a situation where the match could have shifted in Scotland’s favour, when Nepal were struggling at 98-3 (13.2).
Airee scored a remarkable 50*(23) comprising 3 sixes and 4 boundaries, turning violent in 17th over of in form Leask’s, where he smashed 20. This over shifted momentum from Scotland and Nepal made grip towards the game, as they began scoring in double digits in rest of the overs.
Eventually, when 5 runs were needed off last over, Gulsan smashed boundary in 2nd Ball of the over to give Nepal the historic win and a memorable end to their campaign, where they started off almost defeating England.
Brief Scorecard –
1st Innings :
SCO : 170-7 (20)
2nd Innings :
NEP : 171-3 (19.2)
Result : Nepal win by 7 wickets.
