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England vs Nepal T20 Cricket World Cup Predictions - Salt to steer England to huge win over Nepal

Simon Lewis

Editor

Last updated: 07 Feb 2026

Simon Lewis 07 Feb 2026

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Phil Salt has scored 72*, 43 and 46 runs in his last four innings.
Aasif Sheikh hit three sixes in his 29-ball 58 against Canada.
Can England kick-start their World Cup campaign with a big win over minnows Nepal?

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Phil Salt pushes a single (Getty Images).

England vs Nepal Predictions

England are a powerful and highly experienced white-ball side with bat and ball. Nepal have some talented players but it would take a miracle for them to get into a match-winning position against this England side.

England vs Nepal Predictions
Head-to-Head
England Form
Nepal Form
England vs Nepal Team News & Squads

England’s Phil Salt top-scored with 46 off 35 balls against Sri Lanka.
England’s Jos Buttler has scored 33*, 39 & 25 in his last 4 innings.
Nepal’s Aasif Sheikh has scored 34, 54, 20 & 58 in his last 10 innings.
Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee scored 50* off 31 balls against the UAE.

Head-to-Head

The two teams have never met before in a T20I.

England Form

England have won four of their last six T20Is, with the other two matches rained out. They have won their last two series 1-0 (vs New Zealand) and 3-0 (Sri Lanka).

Phil Salt and Jos Buttler have proven themselves as a power-duo at the top of the order for England, and their form will be crucial for England’s success in the tournament. Sam Curran has been in terrific form with bat and ball in the month leading up to the World Cup, scoring 53*, 20* and 58 in his last four knocks, along with picking up 3/28, 2/37 and 3/38.

Adil Rashid’s recent form has been magnificent, picking up 2/34, 2/61, 3/199 1/25 and 1/25 against Sri Lanka. Liam Dawson has picked up nine wickets in his last five whiteball matches, including figures of 2/48 and 2/31 against Sri Lanka. Jacob Bethell has put in some impressive performances with bat and ball, taking 4/11 and scoring 65 against Sri Lanka.

Nepal Form

Nepal won all seven of their games in the Asia & EAP Qualifier to win the tournament, although it was against lower-ranked sides than they will compete with in this tournament. Their strongest opponents in the Qualifier were Oman and the UAE, who are competing in this World Cup.

Dipendra Singh Airee (50* off 31) and Aarif Sheikh (61* off 37) starred with the bat in the warm-up game against the UAE. Sheikh was again on song in the next warm-up match against Canada, scoring 58* off 29 balls, backed by Sundeep Jora’s 30-ball 44.

Sandeep Lamichhane is Nepal’s world-class leggie who averages 12.14 in T20Is. He took 2/24 and 2/14 in his side’s two warm-up games. Kushal Bhurtel has taken 2/25 and 2/26 in his last three matches and has an economy rate of 6.52 in T20Is. Karan KC has picked up figures of 2/25, 1/16 and 2/24 in his last four matches.

England vs Nepal Team News & Squads

England captain Harry Brook was delighted with his side’s 3-0 clean sweep in their series against Sri Lanka ahead of the World Cup. "That was awesome, a great win to be part of the way the boys kept fighting to the end. We've shown we can adapt to surfaces, and tonight was a tricky one to bat on. Sam got us to a decent total and then the way the spinners bowled, 16 overs against SL in their own conditions was an awesome effort. The World Cup is here, so when we have the opportunity to play here we have the experiences to carry over," said Brook.

Nepal captain Rohit Paudel is upbeat about his side’s chances of progressing in the tournament. "We started preparation about a month ago and overall, the preparation has been really good. Everyone’s target is to win matches, but if we are realistic, the ultimate goal is to qualify for the Super 8. For that, we need 100% effort as a team. We had close games before - like South Africa and Bangladesh - but still, the belief and character we showed was positive,” said Paudel.

England (possible XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Harry Brook (c), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, and Adil Rashid.

Nepal (possible XI): Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Rohit Paudel (c), Dipendra Singh Airee, Sundeep Jora, Aarif Sheikh, Gulshan Jha, Lokesh Bam, Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav and Sandeep Lamichhane.

Verdict

England v Nepal

I am backing England to win. I am also backing Phil Salt to top score for England.

Aasif Sheikh is a good bet to top score for Nepal.

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Simon is a talented sports writer in South Africa with a strong focus on cricket having played first-team level for UCT, including playing at two Universities Weeks.

From a young age Simon was an avid reader of cricket magazines and books, and went on to be Editor of The Googly, CricketScene SA and SA Cricket, in addition to being a Features Writer on SA Sports Illustrated.

He has interviewed most of South Africa's premier cricketers and was the first writer to interview a teenaged Jacques Kallis.

Simon has also written about English and local football, rugby and cricket, in addition to major international tennis and golf stars and competitions.

You can follow more from Simon at Muckrack, X and LinkedIn.