Nepal began their preparations for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with a heavy 63-run warm up defeat against Canada at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas on Monday, thanks to their batting consistencies that have come back to haunt them since the turn of the year.

Last year, Nepal’s batting won the hearts of many when they pulled off a sensational comeback to win 11 out of 12 matches of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 and qualified for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. The Rhinos also qualified for their maiden Asia Cup and ended the year by securing their ticket to the T20 World Cup for the first time since 2014.

But all that steel and resilience now seem to have suddenly vanished into the thin air.

The year 2024 has been a rollercoaster ride for Rohit Paudel’s Rhinos, even in their roaring and perfect hunting ground—TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur. They opened the League 2 with a loss against Namibia which ended their 15-match winning streak at home and won only one of their four matches of the home tri-series.

They also failed to qualify for the 2025 Asia Cup last month and a four-wicket defeat to less fancied side Hong Kong in the third-place playoff of the ACC Men’s T20 Premier Cup also banished them out of the 2024 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

One of their memorable moments came when they swept the three-match bilateral series against Canada in Kirtipur in their opening event of the year.

However, their batting has been characterised by unsteadiness since and it was out in the open again against Canada in their first warm-up match of the T20 World Cup.

Nepal’s bowling unit has been their strength always and proved key in the middle overs on Monday as well when they struck five times in the space of 27 deliveries limiting Canada from 111-2 in the 14th over to 135-7 in the 18th over, with Abinash Bohara taking 2-27, and Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Gulsan Jha, Lalit Rajbanshi and Sagar Dhakal all picking up one wicket each.

Nicholas Kriton’s 50 runs off 39 balls and opener Navneet Dhaliwal’s 32 runs off 27 balls had driven Canada past 100 to give them a great start.

Despite a tight bowling from Nepal, Ravinderpal Singh’s explosive 17-ball 41 guided Canada to 183-7.

Nepal could never stay in the chase of an 184-run target.

Opener Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh struggled again and departed making 10 (16) and 22 (22), respectively.

Skipper Paudel has been the most consistent batter for Nepal. He was Nepal’s leading run-scorer last year with 403 T20I runs from 13 innings and was facing Canada having scored 265 runs from four innings that included a century and two half-centuries—all of which came during the five-match T20 series West Indies A.

He was out for a duck in his last outing—the fifth T20 against West Indies A—and failed to make a mark again after being dismissed for one.

Sundeep Jora (6), Jha (0), Kami (4), Dhakal (5) and Bohara (0) all handled the bat poorly and returned to the pavilion with single digit scores, as Nepal could not only manage 120 runs.

Canada’s Dilon Heyliger returned the match figures of 4-20 in this 2.3 over spell. Jeremy Gordon and Saad Bin Zafar took two wickets each while Kaleem Sana and Pragat Singh pocketed one wicket apiece.

Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee also had a golden year in 2023.

During the Asian Games, Malla scored a century off just 34 balls against Mongolia. The score stands as the second fastest T20I century. Malla scored 402 runs in his 12 innings last year. After struggling with the bat most of this year, he is regaining his shape gradually at a perfect time. He top-scored against Canada with 37 runs off 30 balls, carrying his form from this last match against West Indies A where he scored a valiant 37 not out off 18 balls.

Airee is Nepal’s highest run-scorer in the T20Is with 1626 runs from 56 innings. He scored a 50 off just nine balls against Mongolia last year to break the record for fastest fifty in T20s. A month ago, the big-hitting finisher smashed six sixes in an over during the Premier Cup against Qatar, joining the ranks of Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard in achieving the rare feat in men’s T20I. Airee did not bat against Canada.

Anil Sah’s batting does not look like a bigger concern. He was outstanding again and comfortably scored 24 runs off 16 balls. He returned to the national team for Nepal’s home series against Canada in February and immediately made an impact with a fifty and an unbeaten century. Although he lost his form following the Canada series win, he has refound his confidence lately. He scored a half-century against West Indies A in what was his last inning before the Canada warm up.

Nepal will face co-hosts United States in their second warm-up game on Thursday.

Nepal, drawn in Group D, begin their T20 World Cup against the Netherlands on June 4 in Dallas, followed by group matches against Sri Lanka on June 12, South Africa on June 15 and Bangladesh on June 17.

Nepal are making only their second appearance at a cricket World Cup—their first since World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014.