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Mumbai, Feb 17: Nepal will face Scotland today in its final group stage match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at Wankhede Stadium at 7:15 PM.

After losing all three of their opening games, the Nepali side will be chasing a consolation win. The team also hopes to end a 12-year win drought in the T20 World Cup and finish the tournament on a positive note.

Nepal has not won a T20 World Cup match since defeating Afghanistan in the 2014 edition. In the 2024 tournament, Nepal lost three group matches, while one game was washed out by rain.

In this edition, Nepal impressed against England in the opening match but fell short near the finish line. The team then suffered one sided defeat in the next two games.

Nepal’s consultant coach Nick Pothas said the team aims to beat Scotland and close the tournament with a positive message. Speaking at the pre-match press conference, he said the side wants to carry good momentum into the upcoming ODI fixtures.

Pothas also noted that the team has been repeating the same mistakes and must fix them. He stressed that players need to produce a competitive performance against Scotland and avoid recurring errors.

Scotland batter Tom Bruce, who previously played for New Zealand, said Nepal is a strong side and should not be taken lightly. He noted Nepal’s excellent showing against England and said it could have been one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. Bruce added that Nepal may not have played to its own expectations in the following matches, but Scotland expects them to come hard.

He also pointed to the growing rivalry between the two associate nations and praised the passion of Nepali supporters. Bruce said both teams want to finish the World Cup on a positive note.

“Fifty thousand fans backed Nepal against England. The number may be smaller this time, but most support will again be for Nepal. That is the beauty of cricket, and we are ready for it,” he said.

Like Nepal, Scotland is an associate nation. Scotland sits 14th in the ICC T20I rankings, while Nepal is ranked 16th.

Scotland had originally failed to qualify through the European qualifiers. But after the Bangladesh Cricket Board declined to send its team to India, the ICC excluded Bangladesh, and Scotland got the spot based on rankings.

The two teams have met twice in T20Is, with one win each. In last year’s tri-nation T20I series in Scotland, which also featured the Netherlands, Nepal split the two matches against Scotland. Nepal had earlier lost to Scotland in their 2013 T20 meeting.

Teams:

Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Rohit Paudel, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Basir Ahmad, Sandeep Jora, Karan KC or Lalit Rajbanshi, Nandan Yadav, Sompal Kami, Sandeep Lamichhane.

Scotland: George Munsey, Michael Jones, Richie Berrington, Matthew Cross, Brandon McMullen, Michael Leask, Mark Watt, Tom Bruce, Bradley Wheal, Jack Jarvis, Oliver Davidson.

People’s News Monitoring Service