Nepal beat Afghanistan by five wickets in the fourth match of Group A at the 2026 Asian Games men’s cricket competition, played at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan on September 25. Afghanistan won the toss, chose to bat first, and could only post 102 for 7 in their 20 overs. Nepal chased it down with wickets in hand, riding contributions from Sundeep Jora and Rohit Paudel.
It was Nepal’s biggest scalp of the tournament so far and a result that will matter when Group A’s table gets sorted out for the quarterfinal spots.
How the match played out
Afghanistan never got their innings moving. The powerplay produced just 19 runs and cost them three wickets, a rough start against a Nepali attack that bowled with discipline all morning. Najibullah Zadran and Faisal Khan Ahmadzai both got to 30, but neither could turn a start into anything bigger, and the middle overs kept bleeding wickets at the other end. Afghanistan crossed fifty in the eleventh over and didn’t reach three figures until the nineteenth, a sign of how cramped the innings felt from ball one. They finished on 102 for 7, a total that looked short even before Nepal walked out to bat.
Kushal Bhurtel did the early damage with the ball, finishing with 4 for 21, and Lalit Rajbanshi backed him up with 3 for 13. Between them they accounted for seven of Afghanistan’s seven wickets, which tells you how little the rest of the Nepali attack was needed.
Chasing 103, Nepal had a shaky opening two overs, losing an early wicket before Sundeep Jora and Rohit Paudel settled things down. Jora made 34 and Paudel finished unbeaten on 33, and the pair steered Nepal home with 16 balls to spare. Given the modest target, the win had more to do with Nepal’s bowlers setting it up than any fireworks in the chase.
The head to head between these two sides
Afghanistan have generally had the better of this rivalry in T20 cricket, but Nepal have landed a few big punches along the way, and this result adds another one.
| Date | Competition | Winner | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 20, 2014 | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup | Nepal | 9 runs |
| September 2014 | Asian Games quarterfinal, Incheon | Afghanistan | 8 runs |
| December 2025 | ACC Men’s Asia Cup | Afghanistan | 6 wickets |
| September 25, 2026 | Asian Games, Nisshin | Nepal | 5 wickets |
The 2014 World Cup win in Sylhet is still the result Nepali fans bring up first, a genuine upset at the time. Afghanistan answered later that year in the Asian Games quarterfinal in Incheon, and again this past December in the Asia Cup group stage. This latest game swings the recent form back toward Nepal, even if Afghanistan remain the stronger side on paper over a longer sample of matches.
Who won it for Nepal
Kushal Bhurtel was the standout. His figures of 4 for 21 broke open the Afghan innings and set the tone for the rest of the bowling unit. Bhurtel has been in strong form across the tournament, and his season numbers back that up: across ten matches he has scored 518 runs at an average of 57.55 with a strike rate over 187, so he’s not just a bowling option for Nepal, he’s their most dangerous player with bat in hand too. ESPN
Lalit Rajbanshi’s 3 for 13 mattered just as much, even if it came with less fanfare. Picking up three wickets while conceding under a run a ball put Afghanistan under scoreboard pressure they never recovered from.
With the bat, Sundeep Jora and Rohit Paudel did the calm, sensible thing against a small target: build a partnership, avoid unnecessary risk, and finish the job. Paudel’s unbeaten 33 was the difference between a comfortable win and a nervy finish.
Who fell short for Afghanistan
Najibullah Zadran and Faisal Khan Ahmadzai each got to 30, which sounds fine on paper but wasn’t nearly enough given how the innings started. Neither knock had the tempo Afghanistan needed once they’d lost early wickets in the powerplay. Faisal Khan, notably, was making his T20I debut in this match, so there’s context there for a young player finding his feet against a well drilled attack.
Abdollah Ahmadzai has been Afghanistan’s most economical bowler this tournament, with five wickets at an economy of 7.35 across four matches, but that form didn’t translate into breaking Nepal’s chase open on this occasion. Nangeyalia Khan bowled the last over of Afghanistan’s innings and was among the bowlers used against Nepal’s top order, though the wickets simply didn’t come at the pace Afghanistan needed. ESPN
What this means for the group
Group A at these Asian Games is made up of Afghanistan, Nepal, and Japan, playing a single round robin before the top two advance to the quarterfinals. Afghanistan opened their campaign with a win over Japan a day earlier, so this loss to Nepal doesn’t knock them out, but it does tighten the group considerably. Nepal, for their part, now have a genuine platform heading into their next fixture against Japan.
Given how the group is seeded, the two teams that go through from Group A are set to face India or Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals, so there’s real incentive for both Afghanistan and Nepal to finish in the top two rather than settle for a moral victory.
Who has the edge if these two meet again
Judged purely on team strength and recent ICC rankings, Afghanistan remain the favourites in almost any format against Nepal. Their bowling attack, built around a deep pool of spinners, is one of the most dangerous in world cricket outside the top eight nations, and their batting has more power through the middle order.
But T20 cricket punishes a slow start more than any other format, and that’s exactly what undid Afghanistan here. Nepal’s bowling has been sharp throughout this tournament, and their batting order has depth even without a single standout performance in this particular chase. Dipendra Singh Airee has been a major contributor across the competition, with 264 runs at an average of 66, and he didn’t even need to bat in this game, which says something about how comfortably Nepal got over the line. ESPN
If the two sides were to meet again in the knockout stage, expect a closer contest than this one. Afghanistan will be motivated to respond, and a side with their bowling depth rarely has two bad days with the bat in a row. Nepal, though, have shown they can beat Afghanistan when their new-ball bowling clicks, and that’s now happened twice in the last twelve years at exactly the moment it mattered most.
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