The count of Nepal’s international cricket matches began from the Rhinos’ maiden T20 World Cup in 2014. After 12 years, Nepal have played 200 international matches, including T20Is and ODIs.

The ICC CWC League 2 fixture against Oman at the TU International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur on Wednesday will mark the 201st international match for the Nepal men’s senior team.

The Rhinos had made a mark in their first official international match, defeating Hong Kong by 80 runs in the T20 World Cup on March 16, 2014. They also marked the milestone of 200 international matches with a win, defeating the UAE by 37 runs in the ICC CWC League 2 tri-series on Saturday.

Nepal will now play Oman on Wednesday, in what will be their 201st international match.

Ahead of the occasion, the Post revisits the Nepali men’s senior team’s 200 international matches in seven points.

106 wins in 200 games

It took four years for Nepal to play their first one-day international match after their debut in T20Is. It was during Nepal’s tour to the Netherlands, on August 1, 2018, when the Rhinos played their first ODI and lost it by 55 runs to the hosts.

By the time Nepal defeated the UAE on April 25, it was the Rhinos’ 106th win in 200 matches.

Of the 200 matches, Nepal have played 118 T20Is and 82 ODIs. The Rhinos have a better winning rate in the shortest format.

The Rhinos have 67 wins in 118 T20Is, of which three ended in a tie and three others without any result. In the 50-over game, Nepal have 39 wins in 82 matches, of which one ended in a tie and two without a result.

Nepal would have reached the 200-match milestone sooner. But eight of Nepal’s scheduled international fixtures were abandoned without a ball being bowled and hence were not counted as official matches.

Concerns are also raised every now and then that Nepal have been playing international cricket since the late 1990s, but they have never been counted as official matches under the International Cricket Council (ICC). If they were to be counted, the number of Nepal’s international matches would have been far more.

Nepal also lost the chance to play international matches for almost three years after the ICC suspended the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) in April 2016.

Memorable T20 World Cups

Perhaps the most memorable encounters among Nepal’s 200 international matches are those during the three T20 World Cups that Nepal participated in.

Nepal have played 10 matches in the biggest T20 stage of the world. They took part in their maiden T20 World Cup in 2014 and returned to the stage after a decade in 2024, before making it to the tournament consecutively for the first time in 2026.

The Rhinos would have played in 11 T20 World Cup matches had their fixture against Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, USA, on June 11, 2024, not been obstructed by rain.

Nepal played three matches each in 2014 and 2024 and four in 2026. They won two matches—against Hong Kong and Afghanistan—in Bangladesh in 2014, were winless in the Americas in 2024 and managed a solo win—against Scotland—at Wankhede this year.

But Nepali fans and cricketers would rather be proud of two nail-biting matches against South Africa and England.

South Africa and England had, with great difficulty, managed a one-run and four-run victory over Nepal in the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups, respectively.

Win over the West Indies

Nepal had never played a Test-playing nation in a friendly until the two-time T20 World Cup champions, the West Indies, agreed to a three-match T20I series in Sharjah in September last year.

And when Nepal won two of the three matches and clinched the series 2-1, the cricketing world was left amazed.

A 19-run victory in the first match of the series on September 27, 2025, was followed by a 90-run victory in the second match on September 29 for Nepal. Meanwhile, the Caribbean side, which did not come with a squad full of first-choice players, bounced back in the final match, winning by 10 wickets.

The series win boosted the morale of the Nepali players as they headed for the World Cup. However, the West Indies showed their might on February 15 as they faced Nepal in the 2026 T20 World Cup at Wankhede. Nepal were handed a nine-wicket defeat in Mumbai.

Nonetheless, the West Indian players and coaching staff were full of praise for Nepal.

“I think they are a well-gelled unit,” West Indies bowler Akeal Hosein said in the pre-match conference on February 14. “They did defeat us in Sharjah but most of our seniors weren’t there, so it is a match we are looking forward to.”

Hosein added, “We know what they [Nepal] can do, what they are capable of. We saw it in the last couple of games. We know they are a tight team. These guys really know the ins and outs. Players know how to play.”

Monty Desai pulls off a miraculous turnaround

Nepal were at the brink of losing their one-day status when Monty Desai joined as the head coach in February 2023.

The Rhinos required 11 wins from their last 12 matches in the inaugural cycle of the ICC CWC League 2 to retain their ODI status and qualify for the 50-over World Cup’s global qualifier.

It was never an easy task for Desai and his players to win almost a dozen games straight.

When Nepal defeated the UAE by nine runs under the DLS method on March 16, 2023, an overcrowded TU International Cricket Ground erupted in joy.

“Each of those 12 matches could be an episode of a Netflix series,” Espncricinfo, one of the world’s leading sites in cricket news and stats, wrote about the 11 miracle wins of Nepal.

The Rhinos, meanwhile, could not get it right in the Global Qualifier in Zimbabwe and failed to qualify for their maiden ODI World Cup in 2023.

Now, Desai has been succeeded by Stuart Law. But Law, who joined last year, is in a similar situation to the time Desai took the helm of Nepali cricket.

Nepal are again at the second-to-last position and require as many wins as possible in their remaining 15 matches to not put their ODI status at risk and progress to the Global Qualifier.

Nepal at home

Of the 200 matches, Nepal have played 57 matches at home—the TU International Cricket Ground and Mulpani.

The TU Ground has hosted 52 international matches of the Nepal men’s team. Five matches—three T20Is against the UAE and two T20Is against Hong Kong—have been played in Mulpani in October-November 2023. Nepal won them all.

Meanwhile, Nepal have won 36 matches at the TU Ground. One ended in a tie at TU, while the Rhinos have lost 15 times at their home turf.

Likewise, 30 of the 57 matches Nepal played at home were T20Is. Nepal have won 19 one-day matches and 22 T20Is at home.

Nepal’s opponents

Nepal came face-to-face against 13 opponents in ODIs. Of these, five—India, Pakistan, the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland—are Full Members. The Rhinos are yet to register their maiden win against the Full Members in ODIs.

Among the Associates, Nepal have played against Canada, Namibia, the Netherlands, Oman, PNG, Scotland, the UAE and the USA.

Nepal’s most frequent opponent in ODIs are the UAE. They have confronted each other 18 times in the 50-over game, with Nepal winning 10 of those games.

Meanwhile, Nepal have played against 31 different opponents in T20Is.

Nepal’s most common T20 opponent are the Netherlands, as they have faced off 15 times. The Rhinos have faced the UAE 13 times, Hong Kong 12 times and Malaysia 10 times in the shortest format.

Individual records

Nepal have played 82 ODIs so far. Rohit Kumar Paudel, Nepal’s skipper in the longer format, has played in 77 of those ODIs, the most number of times by any Nepali.

Paudel is also the leading run-scorer in ODIs for Nepal. He is the only Nepali with 2,000+ ODI runs—2,002 runs in 73 innings.

Paudel is followed by Aasif Sheikh (1,684 runs in 64 matches), Kushal Bhurtel (1,478 runs in 66 matches), Aarif Sheikh (1,420 runs in 66 matches) and Dipendra Singh Airee (1,316 runs).

Meanwhile, Airee leads the run tally in T20Is. Airee, who has represented Nepal in the most number of T20Is, is the only Nepali with 2,000+ T20I runs: 2,180 runs in 96 matches (84 innings).

Airee is followed by Bhurtel (1,985 runs in 76 matches), Paudel (1,720 runs in 80 matches), Aasif (1,710 runs in 72 matches) and Kushal Malla (1,039 runs in 61 matches).

Paudel has led Nepal on most of the occasions. He has captained Nepal in 111 matches, and the Rhinos have won 59 of them. Paras Khadka, Sandeep Lamichhane and Gyanendra Malla have captained Nepal in 33, 32 and 22 matches, respectively. Airee has captained the Nepali team in two T20Is so far.

Regarding bowling, one man rules both formats. Sandeep Lamichhane is the leading wicket-taker for Nepal with 137 ODI wickets and 136 T20I wickets.

In T20Is, Lamichhane is followed by Karan KC (106 wickets in 88 matches), Sompal Kami (84 wickets in 88 matches), Abinash Bohara (75 wickets in 62 matches) and Airee (60 wickets in 96 matches).

In ODIs, Lamichhane is again followed by KC (95 wickets in 66 games) and Kami (87 wickets in 67 games). Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi (48 wickets in 42 games) and Airee (43 wickets in 69 games) are also in the queue.

Lamichhane is the only Nepali with 100+ wickets in both formats. If he gets three more wickets against Oman on Wednesday, Lamichhane will become the first player with 100 wickets in League 2.

It will also be a must-win match for Nepal, who have struggled against Oman in ODIs. Of the eight ODIs Nepal and Oman have played, Nepal have won only three. But in T20Is, Nepal have emerged victorious in six of the nine fixtures.