England almost crashed to a shock defeat in their T20 World Cup opener against Nepal in Mumbai on Sunday. With Nepal needing 10 runs to win in the final over, Sam Curran managed to keep it tight as England avoided a huge upset.
The all-rounder conceded only five runs, with Lokesh Bam (39*) and Karan KC (1*) failing to find any boundaries. England also had to put in a similar final over showing in the first innings, with Will Jacks taking on Karan.
Jacks smacked three sixes in the final over as England got to 184/7. Reacting after the win, Jacks said, “I was very nervous – extremely nervous. My heart was thumping. But I had confidence in Sam Curran. He’s defended situations like that before, and he did it brilliantly again today. His yorkers were excellent, and he executed under pressure.”
Chasing 185 runs, Nepal reached 180/6 in 20 overs. At one point, Nepal looked like they were on its way to a victory. After 14 overs, they stood at 123/2, with Dipendra Singh Airee and Rohit Paudel batting. The pair were taking on the opposition bowlers, and it looked like a match-winning partnership. But then in the 15th over, Curran dismissed Dipendra for 44 off 29 balls. In the next over, Liam Dawson dismissed Paudel for 39 off 34 balls.
‘Full credit to Nepal’
“I think full credit to Nepal. They were absolutely brilliant. We saw that this was tricky when we batted, but they played against us really very well and they really took us close there. They played brilliantly,” said Jacks.
When asked about his final over blitz in the first innings, he said, “I saw they were debating.”
“I think the helmet ran out and then ran off, so obviously in hindsight they might have done that, but all in all they were tactically very good. They’ve obviously pushed us right to the edge there. I think if the surfaces are going to continue to behave like that, then that’s going to be crucial going forward,” he added.