England 'relieved' as Nepal lose T20 World Cup thriller by 4 runs

Mumbai, Feb 8 (PTI) England’s Will Jacks said his team was both “relieved” and “happy” after beating a gutsy Nepal by a four runs in their T20 World Cup thriller, while the Himalayan nation’s Nandan Yadav expressed both “regret” and “pride” on his side's heroics here on Sunday.

England, who scored 184 for 7 after batting first, may have thought they had the game in their bag but Nepal remained persistent throughout their chase to narrow it down to 10 runs off the final over.

Sam Curran executed his yorkers perfectly as Nepal tripped on the finish line, but it was a game in which England survived a massive scare before winning.

“Full credit to Nepal. They were outstanding in the field and their running between the wickets was excellent, they just kept coming, That’s World Cup cricket. We’ve seen it already in this tournament: almost every game is tight,” Jacks told reporters after the match.

Asked if England had a feeling of relief or accomplishment, Jacks said, “Relief and happiness. We came into this game to win, and we did. Job done. But also, it’s part of preparation for what’s to come because we know we’ll be in similar situations again.” Jacks praised Curran for his accuracy in tense moments of a thrilling finish.

“He’s very calm in pressure situations and thinks very clearly. He understands the game extremely well. He showed that again today.” Nandan promised his side will improve from this experience.

“There is regret because we came very close and couldn’t get over the line, but at the same time there is pride because we are competing against very strong teams like England. Being that close shows we are improving, so overall it’s a mix of pride and regret,” he said.

Nandan said Nepal need to improve on their death overs bowling in particular.

“For me personally, there is a lot of talk about my wide balls, so that’s something I need to work on. As a bowling unit, we need to focus more on death overs,” he said.

Nandan hailed the presence of 17,000-strong crowd with mostly Nepal fans backing their side to get over the line.

“That’s the love of our crowd. Wherever we go, it feels like a home ground. I am very thankful to all the supporters. I want to say sorry for the result, but we will improve. The crowd is amazing. They love cricket and the atmosphere,” he said.

“We are improving in a good way. Matches like this are good for us and for the crowd as well. It shows our standard is going up,” he added.

Jacob Bethell, who top-scored for England with 55 runs on his T20 World Cup debut, said having a close finish would hold them in a good stead.

“I probably wouldn't have wanted it to be as close as it was, to be honest,” he said.

“It feels like, watching previous World Cups, you want to get those little tricky games, get a feel for them and just know that you've got the confidence to get over the line in them.” The 22-year-old admitted that there was a lot unknown things about Nepal’s batters as well as bowlers, especially when it comes to studying video footage.

“There's not a whole lot of footage and that out there of the Nepal team,” he said.

“You don't obviously have a sample size of strengths and all that. Some of the shots they were hitting were incredible. We were trying to take pace off the ball to make it hard for them to clear the ropes, and they were (still) hitting it over our men and not just over, they were hitting it miles over (the fielders),” Bethell added.

Lokesh Bam, who nearly took Nepal to what would have been a historic victory with his 20-ball 39 not out, said he waited for Curran to miss his lengths in the final over.

“I thought I would go after him if he missed his length,” Lokesh said. PTI

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