The Nepali men’s national cricket team has qualified for the T20 World Cup 2026—the first time that the side made it to back-to-back T20 World Cups. Even before the team faced Oman on Wednesday evening and, in fact, went on to win the Super Six stage game, the UAE’s staggering victory against Samoa had secured Nepal’s berth in the Top Three of the qualifiers and thus a place at the World Cup. The Nepali side has shown an all-round cricketing acumen in the past few months; a symphony of skill with bat, ball and belief. In its first-ever bilateral series against a Test-playing nation, the West Indies, the Nepali side secured a 2-1 series win, and it remains the only team to win all of its matches in the ongoing qualifiers. The side has displayed consistency in the bowling and fielding departments and shown big improvement in its batting.

In these turbulent times for the country, the men in blue and red have offered a much-needed respite, each boundary bridging divides and each victory stitching smiles across the weary nation. Nepal’s fanbase is also swelling like a rising tide, its waves reaching stadiums from Sharjah to Sydney. There is thus so much going for Nepali cricket. Now it is up to our cricket administrators to level up their game. Perhaps the biggest success story in Nepali domestic cricket is the start of the Nepal Premier League (NPL) last year, as the country hosted top talents from around the world and our players got to rub shoulders against cricket superstars like Jimmy Neesham, Shikhar Dhawan and Martin Guptill. This would have done their confidence a world of good.

But besides the NPL’s success, the larger domestic cricket structure needs an urgent revamp. The craze for any sport starts at a young age. Schools must be encouraged to give children more chances to play cricket. It is also unbecoming for the cricket-mad country not to have a long-form domestic tournament, like the Ranji trophy in India, to provide a platform for players to show their skill sets at Test cricket, the pinnacle of sports. Then there is the old issue of the need to update our cricket infrastructures, including the stadiums, so more top teams come here to play, which is again the best way for Nepal to improve as an international team.

Coming to the T20 World Cup, Nepal did not win a single match in the edition. The only silver lining to the Nepali side’s participation came in the form of cricketing powerhouse South Africa edging Nepal by a run. But recently, Nepal defeated a Test-playing nation, twice. Qualifying for the World Cup is a welcome achievement, but it is time to change the mindset and goals now. This time, the participation in the apex global stage for the T20 format must not simply be symbolic. Given its recent spate of consistent performances, Nepal should now consider itself a cricketing power that is capable of beating any team on their day.