Having watched their favourite world cricket heavyweights on foreign sports channels on their television screens for years, Nepalis erupted in joy when they witnessed the national men’s cricket team on those same channels during the 2014 T20 World Cup. The joy saw no bounds when the Rhinos defeated Hong Kong and Afghanistan in the group stage.

The same tournament was when Nepal faced a Test nation, an ICC full member, for the first time. They played the hosts of the 2014 T20 World Cup, Bangladesh, on March 18, and lost by eight wickets.

After that, Nepal’s men’s team played seven T20Is against five Test nations—Bangladesh, India, Ireland, South Africa and Zimbabwe—before playing two-time T20 World Cup champion, the West Indies, at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

The Rhinos lost to Bangladesh and South Africa at the T20 World Cup in 2024, against India in the 2023 Asian Games, with Ireland in two friendly series in 2019 and 2021, and twice to Zimbabwe in the tri-series in Singapore in 2019.

The closest Nepal were to defeating a Test nation was last year when South Africa managed the win by one run at the T20 World Cup group stage. But on Saturday, they managed what looked like an easy win against the West Indies, one of the world’s best T20 teams.

Nepal had defeated the second-best team of the Caribbean side, West Indies ‘A’, twice when they toured Nepal for a five-match T20 series last year.

However, they had suffered a 101-run defeat to the senior West Indies side during the World Cup Global Qualifier in 2023. Nepal had also lost by two wickets to Ireland and by eight wickets to the hosts, Zimbabwe, in the same event.

Of the five ODIs Nepal played against Test-playing countries, the other two came against India and Pakistan in the 2023 Asia Cup; the Rhinos suffered defeats to the duo by 10 wickets and 238 runs, respectively.

Despite the losses, Nepal’s cricket was receiving praises from across the world, from the best in the business. It was because the Rhinos were giving their all against far better teams, while proving their worth at the Associate level, that a team like the West Indies accepted Nepal’s offer for a friendly T20I amidst their tight schedule as a Test nation.

The historic win

The three-match T20I series between Nepal and the West Indies was a result of the couple of years of communication between the Cricket Association of Nepal and Cricket West Indies. The tour of West Indies ‘A’ to Nepal in April-May last year had further cemented the chances for this historic series to take place. And when it was revealed, Nepali cricket fans had started counting down the dates.

Nepalis wanted the Rhinos to win the opening game of the series on September 27. And, they stunned the West Indies by 19 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Hence, Saturday’s achievement was a dream come true not only for Nepali cricketers but also for the entire cricket fraternity of the country.

The timing couldn’t have been better. The Rhinos wanted to win it to bring back smiles to Nepalis who are in a traumatic situation after the unrest the country witnessed earlier this month. And when the match ended, everything was in favour of those hailing from the Himalayas.