“It’s hard to accept the fact that we lost to South Africa”

Kathmandu, June 20. It was difficult to sleep that night. I sent a message to everyone, asking if they were okay. “Captain Rohit Paudel, in an interview with online news, recalled the night Nepal lost to South Africa by one run in the 2024 T-20 World Cup.

However, Nepal’s defeat was hard to take in. Chasing a target of 116, Gulshan Jha was bowled by South Africa’s fast bowler Otnil Bartman off two consecutive bouncing balls.

After a six-match loss to the Netherlands in the first two matches and a rain-delayed match against Sri Lanka, Nepal had to beat South Africa and Bangladesh to advance to the Super Eights. Under these circumstances, Nepal entered the battle with high morale. “If Scotland can beat England, Netherlands can beat South Africa, UAE can beat New Zealand, why can’t we beat South Africa?” Rohit said this in a team meeting a day before the match, giving encouragement.

However, in T20 cricket, the situation of the match can change even if one or two players come on. You don’t have to perform well all the time like in ODIs and Tests. Overlays can set new game patterns.

Nepal won the toss and chose to play in Kingston, St. Vincent on June 1. Looking at the South African team and condition, Rohit’s plan was to win if he stopped at 150.

In the first match, South Africa lost the match to Quinton de Kock after Dipendra’s cut and audacious 10 runs, and with captain Aiden McCram and Riza Hendricks handling, South Africa posted 67-1 in 11 overs.

In the draining break after 10 overs, the bowlers were asked to bowl with discipline and keep the ball on the wicket. South Africa could have raised the run rate at any time. In the second ball of the 12th over, Kushal Bhurtel bowled Makraram for 15.

In the second ball of the 14th over, Henrik Klaasen, South Africa’s best spin batsman, was caught by Karan Casey for 3. Karan barely missed that catch. One and another in the fourth attempt.

In the 16th over, Riza Hendricks was caught by Dipendra for 43. In the 18th over, South Africa was 97-5 after David Miller was caught by Sandeep at third off Deependra. After Stubbs hit a four and a six, South Africa posted a score of 115-7 in 20 overs.

Kushal Bhurtel took 4 wickets in that match and Dipendra Singh Airi took 3. Sandeep Lamichane failed to take a wicket after scoring 18 runs in 4 overs.

All fans watch Kushal Bhurtel’s bowling while watching the match. But Sandeep Dai at the other end made it very difficult for the opponents to bat. That’s why it was a very good bowling over,” said Rohit.

After bowling, everyone returned to the pavilion with a sense of victory. South Africa faced more pressure than Nepal. When the two sides work well together, South African bowlers usually bowl in different ways around the wicket. In this case, Nepal decided on a strategy of taking advantage of bad forces.

Opener Asif Sheikh Kagiso took the upper edge on the fifth ball of Rabada’s second over, avoiding being cut and bowled. Openers Kushal and Asif shared 34 runs in 6 overs, giving Nepal a good start. Before this, it had been a long time since an opener had made a good start.

Spinner Tabrez Samsi was bowled for 13 when he hit a reverse sweep off the second ball of the eighth over. Rohit was fourth against the Netherlands and third against South Africa.

Getting off to a good start was the strategy before Rohit arrived. Rohit could have won the match after taking some time. But Rohit was bowled on the second ball he faced.

Anil and Asif shared 50 runs in 36 balls for the third wicket. Nepal scored 82 for 2 in 13 overs. Needing 34 runs from 42 balls to win, with 8 wickets in hand, the fans started celebrating.

The players are also confident in the dugout and pavilion. Because batsmen like Dipendra, Kushal and Gulshan Jha are yet to arrive. Anil and Asif are performing well.


In the fourth ball of the next over, Anil Shah was caught by Marco Jansson for 27 while trying to hit a big shot. At that point, Nepal had made 85-3 in 13.4 overs. Nepal’s run rate was a little slow thereafter, with the score at 98-3 in 17 overs.

Samsi made Nepali fans’ hearts beat faster by removing two of Nepal’s leading batsmen, Dipendra and Asif, in the 18th over. When 16 runs were needed from the last 12 balls, Enrich Norkia bowled the first over and hit Kushal Malla in the second.

After that, Sompal Kami, who came on to bat, failed to score two runs in a row. After hitting a slow ball at 105 metres in the fifth ball and two runs in the last ball, 8 runs were needed in the last 6 balls.

Batman’s opening two balls were bowled by Gulson. He hit the third ball through the covers for a boundary. He scored two runs in the next ball. After that, all the Nepalese players had to do was celebrate the victory. Rohit stood up and said he had won. But Field stopped.

Nepal was confident of taking two points in the remaining two balls. I had no thought of failure. At least the Super Over started thinking. But in the next two bouncing balls, Gulsan could not score. Gulsan went for a run in the last ball despite not hitting the ball. When he reached the middle of the pitch, de Kock’s delivery hit him behind.

Klaasen hit the stumps just as he was about to reach a non-strike. Before the replay, South Africa began celebrating their victory. It is understood that Gulsan did not arrive at the pavilion to join in the celebrations. Later, after the replay, the umpire ruled Gulsan out. When Stroop approached, Gulsan was confused. It turned fatal.

After this match, Nepal lost by one point. The possibility of going to Super 8 was over. And immediately lost the chance to participate in the 2026 T-20 World Cup. On the other hand, it also lost a great opportunity to shock the world power South Africa.

Rohit said it was difficult to accept the defeat. “We were confident of winning. I didn’t think about what celebrations to do but it happened in itself. Missed that part. It is very difficult to accept this defeat. It is very difficult for everyone. But what to do? This is sports and cricket”, he said.

He added, “Even in that situation, we didn’t think we would lose. It was difficult to take everyone in. But the way we played cricket was positive. That’s how we encouraged ourselves.”