Mumbai, February 17 Nepal captain Rohit Paudel said on Tuesday that the thrilling win over Scotland in their final T20 World Cup match, their first win in 12 years in the tournament, "means a lot" for himself and the Himalayan nation.
Nepal rode on Kushal Bhurtel's early fireworks and Dipendra Singh Airee's (50 not out off 23 balls) unbeaten fifty to end their 12-year-long winless run in the T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket triumph against Scotland in an inconsequential Group C match.
"This means a lot to me, my second World Cup as captain, and winning the first game in the last match of the league stage was very important for us as a team. Dipendra led the way," Paudel said at the post-match presentation.
Nepal lost by a narrow four-run margin against England in their tournament opener, and after that, they struggled before finally gaining ground on Tuesday.
Paudel thanked the passionate Nepalese fans for backing them during their difficult times.
"After our game against England, they started booking tickets and supported us until the last game. To restrict them (Scotland) to 170, our death bowling was great. We focused more on dot balls than taking wickets."
The Nepalese skipper praised Airee and Gulshan Jha (24 not out off 14) for their breath-taking, match-winning partnership.
"This is not the way we wanted to play, but with Dipendra and Gulshan, they won the game for us. Dipendra deserves the Man of the Match, he has great talent. We kept our nerves calm, both the bowlers and the batters."
"We learned a lot from the England game. To summarise this tournament, we wanted to play the way we did against England and Scotland. Playing against Italy was not the way we wanted to play. We will try to improve from here," Paudel said.
Nepal star batter Airee, who was named player-of-the match for his 23-ball unbeaten 50 to ensure his country's maiden win in the T20 World Cup in 12 years, termed it as his best knock of his career.
"First of all, I want to thank the fans who came from Nepal and supported us. That gives a lot of motivation to all of us. And in the last World Cup, we didn't win a single match. So that's why this win is very important for us."
"Yes, definitely (best innings of career). Because we learned a lot from this chase. And that experience is with us. And that helped us today. So thank you. This kind of chase always gives motivation to the group."
Airee said the defeat to England was a big learning experience for them.
"And the last game against England has given us that few learning experience. So I think this game is very important for us."
Scotland skipper Richie Berrington credited Airee for Nepal's win.
"The atmosphere was incredible, always knew it would be a tough game against Nepal, with the crowd behind them. But full credit to Airee, he changed the momentum of the game. 170 was competitive, they bowled extremely well, but we left a few runs out there. It took one innings to change the game and get the result for Nepal," he said.
The Scottish skipper said they have shown they belong to the T20 World Cup stage after being named as a last-minute replacement for Bangladesh.
"We've shown once again we can compete at this level, but there's some frustration there. We could have won a few more, but a lot to take forward as a team."
"Our preparation was very different to other teams but we embraced that. We would have liked a few more wins but pleased with some of the performances. It's been great that this has been a 20-team World Cup, shows more exposure and all these teams will only get stronger. We have to take every opportunity in front of us," Berrington said.
