Nepal defeated Afghanistan by nine runs* in its final group stage match at the ICC World T20 2014 in Bangladesh on Thursday. However, Nepal failed to qualify for the next round as Bangladesh topped the group with highest run rate. Nepal won two of its three group matches

“The two wins in this tournament mean a lot to us. Like I said before the tournament – we came here to compete. We have always tried to win every game that we have played for our country. It will always give us a great boost moving forward and push us to do better as well as have great impact on the youngsters who are coming up and want to play cricket,” Captain Paras Khadka told media after the match. “This was the first time we qualified and managed to win two games. So it is a great achievement in itself, which we are taking back home. But now the real journey begins. We have to do the home work and start again from the beginning and try to produce better results in future.”

If Hong Kong had beaten Bangladesh within 13.1 overs, Nepal would have advanced to the next round of ICC World T20 2014.

Although Nepal failed to qualify for the next round, it has made an impressive debut in the tournament. Nepal defeated Hong Kong by 80 runs in its inaugural match of the World Cup but lost to Bangladesh by eight wickets.

*The first sentence previously mentioned nine wickets instead of nine runs during the update of Nepal vs Afghanistan match in Bangladesh last Thursday.