Nepal captain appeals to India, England, Australia to tour Kathmandu

MUMBAI: Riding high on their impressive start to the 2026 T20 World Cup in India, Nepal captain Rohit Paudel has appealed to the likes of India, England and Australia to tour Nepal in the near future.

"It would mean a lot, especially if Australia or England comes to Nepal. That would show world cricket Nepal also plays cricket and plays decent cricket. This World Cup has shown that. If Australia, England, India come, our cricket will grow. It will help globalise cricket more. It is very important," Paudel told reporters at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.

"We didn't get the exposure and experience we thought we would get after the [2024] World Cup.

It is very important for us to get exposure and experience of playing against some of the good teams and test our skills against them. If we get an opportunity of playing them regularly, at least one or two series so we can test ourselves, that would be very good," Paudel asserted. At an event at CCI on Monday evening, Cricket Association of Nepal secretary and former Nepal captain Paras Khadka called upon the BCCI to send Team India to Nepal for a T20I series against the cricket minnows.

"If this is the right platform, India-Nepal bilateral series, T20..what a wonderful series to watch. And now that we have floodlights and a stadium back home. We hope to invite some of the bigger cricket nations in our part of the world and play a lot of bilateral tri-nation series," he said.Meanwhile, West Indies head coach for former captain Daren Sammy felt that it was the "responsibility" of full member nations to play bilateral series against the associates to help the game grow.

West Indies are the only Test playing nation who have played a bilateral series against Nepal-a three-match T20I series in Sept which Nepal won 2-1. "Cricket is a team game. I think it's just like it's my responsibility to prepare my team. I think it's our responsibility to grow the game in whatever way we can. If that is Australia playing Nepal, or India playing Nepal, or the West Indies playing Nepal, it is our job to help spread the game and grow it. And if giving or playing against the associate teams, give them more exposure, an opportunity to see where they are, better themselves, I think it's all good for the game," Sammy told reporters here.