Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned the top-ranked teams for failing to support the development of associate nations or lower-ranked teams following Nepal’s tight defeat to England in their T20 World Cup 2026 match. He emphasized that the upcoming cricketing nations get overlooked during the gap between two T20 World Cups.
On Sunday, February 8, England won by four runs in a T20 world cup 2026 group c match at Mumbai. Harry Brook and his team won by a hair thin edge, 184/7 in the first innings where Harry and his team batted and left Rohit Paudel and his team with 180/6.
In one such video on his YouTube channel, the former India opener, Aakash Chopra, said that the lesser ranked countries are not treated in an equal way, between two T20 world cups.
“I am going to talk about what we are doing with associate or slightly lower-ranked teams. It’s token participation. It’s a lip-service job. This is not an appreciation post, that they do well, and then you will remember them after two years. You will say, ‘Well done, thank you, but we won’t talk to you after this,'” Chopra said. (1:20)
“They came to the wedding and you forgot them after that. You don’t even know where they are for the next two years. The lower-ranked teams have done well in every single game, but that won’t remain the story, as we hear this story once in two years. We celebrate it, talk about it, and then we completely forget about it,” he added.
The cricketer-turned-commentator emphasized that lower-ranked teams struggle to finish games or maintain pressure when they are ahead of the opponent owing to a lack of experience.
“It doesn’t matter to us at all. We move on. We go to our homes and play our bilaterals and tournaments. No one bothers about them. When I see them crumbling under pressure, being unable to close the moments, or unable to maintain the pressure, these are things that happen,” Chopra observed.
Aakash Chopra pointed out that affiliate teams will not learn unless they play good teams on a regular basis. He also stated that it is the obligation of the major cricketing nations to improve the upcoming teams by competing against them.
“Spin grabbed the game” – Aakash Chopra lauds Nepal’s bowling in ENG vs NEP T20 World Cup 2026 clash
In the same video, Aakash Chopra commended the Nepal spinners for restraining England’s hitters in their T20 World Cup 2026 match.
“Nepal bowled well. I saw leg-spin for the first time in this tournament, whether it was Kushal Bhurtel’s or Sandeep Lamichhane’s, where the ball turned. Sher Malla picked up a wicket with his first ball on debut. He dismissed Phil Salt. Spin grabbed the game,” he said. (5:30)
While praising Jacob Bethell (55 off 35), Harry Brook (53 off 32), and Will Jacks (39* off 18) for leading England to an apparently winning total, the observer was disappointed by the Nepal batters’ inability to seal the game despite their best efforts.
“Of course, Jacob Bethell played well, and Harry Brook batted well, but in the end, because of Will Jacks’ sixes, this team reached a total from where the match could have been won. However, Dipendra Singh Airee, Rohit Paudel, Kushal Bhurtel and Lokesh Bam batted well. Just couldn’t cross the line. I felt genuinely bad,” Chopra observed.
Dipendra Singh Airee (44 off 29), Rohit Paudel (39 off 34) and Kushal Bhurtel (29 off 17) were instrumental in Nepal against England in T20 World Cup 2026. Lokesh Bam made a total of 39 points out of 20 deliveries without making his team win.
