Cricket fans in Nepal are celebrating their team’s historic win over the West Indies in a T20 international match, the country’s first-ever triumph over a Test-playing nation.

Nepal defeated the two-time former world champions by 19 runs in the first fixture of their three-match T20I series in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Nepal’s fans cheered for their team wildly in the stands at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium well after the match had ended, and the celebrations continued overnight back in the South Asian nation.

After being asked to bat first, Nepal posted a competitive total of 148-8 in their 20 overs, with contributions from captain Rohit Paudel (38) and middle-order batter Kushal Malla (30).

The Rhinos then put on a spirited bowling and fielding performance to restrict the West Indies, who won the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016, led by Kushal Bhurtel’s spell of 2-17 from his four overs.

The win represents a major milestone for the rising cricketing nation.

“It is a historic win for us and helps improve our players’ standing in the cricketing world,” Chatur Bahadur Chand, president of the Cricket Association of Nepal, told the AFP news agency.

Nepali fans in replica team shirts cheered and waved the national flag as they watched the game in the stadium, TV images showed.

Advertisement

“It was not expected, but as the game progressed, we saw there was a chance we could win,” said Pujan Thapa, 27, who watched the game with family and friends on TV in Kathmandu.

“We were so happy, we stood up and danced.”

The win came as Nepal recovers from deadly anticorruption protests that killed at least 72 people and toppled the government.

Paudel dedicated the win to the protesters who lost their lives, saying it was for “the martyrs back home”, and that it would be great if they could give people “a little bit of happiness”.

Former chief selector Dipendra Chaudhary said the win was a result of the team’s hard work.

“It will motivate them to play well and inspire other young cricketers,” he said.

Social media platforms were also flooded with congratulatory messages for the players.

Cricket has been growing in popularity in the mountainous nation, with Nepal given one-day international status by the world governing body ICC in 2018.

Nepal made its ICC T20 World Cup debut in 2014 and returned to the tournament in 2024, when it came agonisingly close to defeating eventual finalists South Africa.