‘I’m hearing stories of a guy selling his car in Melbourne’ - Ian Bishop credits Nepal fans for turning up in big numbers against Netherlands

Nepal suffered a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Netherlands in their opening game of the T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. Batting first, they never looked settled in the first innings and lost wickets at regular intervals. Skipper Rohit Paudel looked confident but there was little support from the other end, which complicated things for Nepal.

Paudel made 35 runs before making his way back into the pavilion as Nepal posted 106 runs, which never looked enough. However, they put up a strong fight with the ball, which was commendable. Sompal Kami picked up the wicket of Michael Levitt in the second over and kept Netherlands under pressure. However, they managed to keep the scoreboard ticking and eventually got the job done.

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Meanwhile, the match also marked Nepal’s first game at the T20 World Cup. They were close to qualifying in 2014 but failed to do so. A lot of their fans turned up in Dallas for their match against the Netherlands, which impressed former cricketer Ian Bishop. The cricketer-turned-commentator narrated a couple of stories, in which he shared that one of Nepal fan sold his car to attend the game, while the other drove 16 hours.

“The crowd made this contest even more worthy than it actually could have been. When you see the sea of blue that we have here.. It was special. I’m hearing stories of a guy selling his car in Melbourne, Australia to fly here to watch this game. I am hearing about people driving from Ohio - some 16 hours away, to come to watch Nepal play. That is a great credit to them,” Bishop said in a video released by ICC.

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Nepal will play their next game against Sri Lanka on June 11. They will also play South Africa and Bangladesh on June 14 and 16 respectively. To make it to the Super 8, the Rohit Paudel-led side need to win all the remaining matches.