Hamza Choudhury, the England-based Leicester City FC player, showed why he is one of the best footballers in South Asia on Thursday as he helped Bangladesh secure a comeback against Nepal in a friendly match at the Dhaka-based National Stadium. But his brace wasn't quite enough to secure a win for his side in a rollercoaster friendly that had fans hold their nerves until the very end.

Nepal had Bangladeshi crowds, numbering thousands, silenced after scoring first in the 25th minute. Rohit Chand, with a screamer from outside the 18-yard box, found the back of the net leaving several bodies inside the box unbothered.

Nepal had an upper hand until the first half ended with three minutes of added time. However, after the second half started, the hosts, with their most important player, made a comeback within five minutes.

Choudhury was mostly busy at the central region of the field playing as a defensive midfielder. However, he was in the box at the 46th minute. Capitalising on a poor shot by his teammate, Choudhury equalised with a bicycle kick. Four minutes later, Bangladesh earned a penalty, and Choudhury, in the 50th minute, gave Bangladesh a 2-1 lead with a panenka.

All was going well for the home side, who were keeping the pressure with a loud continuous cheer from the stands.

But Nepal’s centre back Ananta Tamang turned the tides with around two minutes left—in five minutes of injury time—for the final whistle. Tamang’s goal, which came from a quality backheel during a corner kick, made Nepali fans, and even the Bangladeshi supporters, forget the two beautiful Choudhury goals.

Choudhury, who was subbed out in the 80th minute after sustaining a knee injury, was seen restless, with his left leg bandaged, along the sideline after Tamang’s leveller.

With the 2-2 draw, Nepal have managed to continue their unbeaten run against Bangladesh since 2020.

Nepal and Bangladesh played a goalless draw in a friendly in November 2020, while the Gorkhalis won 2-1 in the tri-nation tournament in March 2021. They played a 1-1 draw in the 2021 SAFF Championship, while Nepal won 3-1, with a hat-trick from Anjan Bista, in the friendly in September 2022.

The last time Nepal and Bangladesh met was on September 6 this year, which ended goalless. The second friendly at Dasharath Stadium slated for September 9 was called off due to the Gen Z revolt. Thursday’s friendly, which both the teams looked at as a practice before their respective Asian Cup Qualifiers fixtures on November 18, was like a consolation of the cancelled match. But as things went, what was supposed to be a consolation turned out to be a rollercoaster.