Sun Feb 15 ’26 by KRISSANIA YOUNG
Holder’s four-fer and a Hope/Hetmyer partnership of 91 runs ensured a comfortable win for the West Indies
West Indies 134 for 1 (Hope 61*, Hetmyer 46*; Yadav 1-24) beating Nepal 133 for 8 (Airee 58, Kami 26*; Holder 4-27) with 9 wickets
West Indies on Sunday secured qualification for the Super Eight stage of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after a 9-wicket win over Nepal at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.
A 4-wicket haul from player of the match Jason Holder highlighted a clinical effort with the ball for the Caribbean side, before a 91-run partnership between skipper Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer took the sting out of Nepal’s attack to secure their place in the next round with one group game to play.
West Indies had a dream start with the ball after opting to play. Akeal Hosein bowled Kushal Bhurtel for one in the first over, before Matthew Forde removed Rohit Paudel for 5 in a wicket-maiden 4th. Jason Holder then took note of Aarif Sheikh (2), leaving Nepal at 17 for 3 in the 5th.
By the 11th over, they had lost half their side and were restricted to 46 for 5. Top scorer Dipendra Singh Airee then anchored two 20-plus partnerships to steady the innings. First a 23-run stand (25 balls) with Lokesh Bam, who made 13, followed by a 27-run 26-ball stay with Gulsan Jha (11).
Airee (58) was joined by Sompal Kami, and the pair hit 54 off 26 for the 7th wicket before the former fell to Holder (4/27) in the final over of the innings. Sompal Kami finished unbeaten on 26 off 15 as Nepal battled their way to 133 for 8 from their allotment.
Brandon King and Shai Hope fended off any early seaming threat in the chase with an opening stand of 34 balls and 43 runs. King fell to Nandan Yadav in the final over of the powerplay after scoring 22 off 17 deliveries. Shimron Hetmyer linked up with Hope and quickly found his timing with the spinners in action.
They rarely had any problems in their uninterrupted 59-ball stand of 91 runs. Hope (61*) brought up his half-century with a straight six in the 15th, his first of two maximums in the over. West Indies completed the chase in the next round at 134 for 1, taking their third win on the trot and becoming the first team to qualify for the Super Eights. Hetmyer finished undefeated on 46.
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