England survive World Cup scare against Nepal

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You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live. Here we go. Six needed from one. Sam Curran into bowl and it's been hid away down the ground. On the ground crucially and England win the game. My goodness me, it has been thrilling at how big do those runs scored by Will Jacks at the back end of innings number one look. I mean goodness. Well, England have won a thriller here in Mumbai beating nepal by just four runs, setting Nepal 185 as a target. Having themselves England hit 184 for 7. Nepal looked odds on favourites to win it with the 19th over and the 18th over having been oh so expensive. It looked as though it was going to go the way of the associate side. In the end though, Sam Curran with a fabulous final over, five from it and England managed to get over the line, albeit scrambling over the line. And goodness me, what relief that will be for Harry Brook. And the England camp will bring you reaction from both sides shortly. But Stephen Finn Ash's winning fast bowler and Prakash Wakanka were watching on for test match special. Prakash, first of all it's been some atmosphere and some game of cricket.

A phenomenal game of cricket. Yes, relief for England and heartbreak again for Nepal. But this is, this is really what this World T20 is all about, isn't it? Just giving the opportunity. And yet again we're seeing, Finney and Henry, that when the associate nations are given that platform and that opportunity, the development that they're getting, the growth that they're getting, almost, you feel that they need to have more such opportunities. Which will make the world and the game of cricket that much richer, won't it?

Has there ever been a bigger advert for more teams in a World Cup? I found that 20, 23, 50 over World cup so tedious with just 10 teams all playing against each other. You want the jeopardy, the nerves that we felt there, the way this ground, the entire ground was engaged with what could have been a humongous result in the context of cricket history. Nepal beating England. And we've almost witnessed that here today. It's such a shame for that not to happen more frequently. And I hope that people at the ICC are watching things like this and thinking people deserve to watch or these teams deserve the opportunity.

Well, Will Jax is the player of the match. 39 not out of 18 balls in England's innings. Vital runs as well. At the back end of that, also took 1 for 17 from his two overs and gets the player of the match award. It could have been others, Brook and also Bethel scored half centuries. And as we see the Nepal side doing a lap of honour as is richly deserved here at the Wangadi Stadium, we will, as I say, bring reaction for you from the boundary edge. As we reflect on this tournament opener and the opening stages of the competition, which has seen plenty of near misses for upsets, none closer than this one, it has to be said, which has been absolutely thrilling, compelling cricket throughout. And here is NASA Hussein with Will.

Jacks presented by Kavita Singh from aramco for his 39 in 18 deliveries and 1 for 17 with the ball. The player of the match is Will Jax. Will, if you can get your medal, please. Well, many congratulations before we get on to your performance. That looked to be a serious test of all your skills, both individually and a team.

Yeah, I think full credit to Nepal. They were absolutely brilliant. We saw the pitch was tricky when we batted, but they played against us, been very well and they really took us close there. They played brilliantly.

One of the big reasons you are a player of the match was that 45 off the last three overs proved pivotal. What was your thought process?

Yeah, it's nice to spend some time in the middle. I've been a bit short of that over the last month or so and it's about keeping it simple. The guys in the middle had described to me what it was like out there. So let the ball come, not over, hit it. And obviously that last over proved crucial in the end. So, happy with that.

Which did you find harder to face out there, spin or seam?

I think you know the answer to that one. It was very tough to start.

Do you think they could have gone just a spinner of the last over? Were you pleasantly surprised when they went, Casey?

Yeah, I saw they were debating, I think the helmet ran out and then went off. So obviously in hindsight they might have done that. But all in all, they were tactically very well, very good. They obviously pushed us right to the edge there.

And with the ball, there's been quite a few contributors, especially in the spin department. It was you and Jacob Bethel in Sri Lanka, you and Liam Dawson. Those all round spinners look crucial in these conditions.

Yeah. And I think if the surfaces are going to continue to behave like that, then that's going to be crucial going forward. There's obviously a lot of games to be played in this World cup and Dawson was absolutely brilliant today and I think having that adaptability is going to hopefully lead us in good scope.

And the new haircut has gone pretty well. One from one with a new hairdo.

Yeah.

I mean, hopefully that contributes to a few more wins. Many congratulations. Well played. Thank you.

As will Jack's chatting to Nasser Hussein. Player of the match from a thrilling game. And it is worth explaining just why it was so thrilling. Not just the margin, which is a slight 1 at 4 runs, but also where Nepal were in their run chase. 48 were needed from the final three overs. The 18th over, bowled by Joffre Archer, ended up going for 22. We saw three sixes in there, a couple of wides, and that shifted the equation to a much more manageable, it has to be said, 24 off the remaining two. Luke Wood then started bowling wides. There was a four, two wides, another four, another wide. And then he closed out the over with 21 and a wicket that saw 14 from the 19th over. At that point, Nepal needed 10 from the remaining over. Step forward, Sam Curran. 1, 1, 2.1, done. And that was what England required and it gets them the win. I mean, the net run rate boost that they might have thought about, which a distant memory now. They're just delighted to have got over the line and they do get over the line. Stephen Finn will be hearing from Harry Brooks shortly, but what will he be feeling right now? Now?

Utter relief. I would Say, I think that lots of things would have passed through his mind in the last 20 minutes or so and emotions. He's probably feeling pretty exhausted, to be honest with you. I'm exhausted. The emotional up and down of watching that up here, if you're living that every second as captain, I'd imagine that's exacerbated. So yeah, relief. And I think he's going to take some food for thought about some of his bowling plans as well moving through this tournament.

So what went wrong? Because I mentioned the expense of Archer and Luke wood in the 18th and 19th. Did they bowl badly? Clearly the extras weren't ideal. But what went wrong there, do you think?

Well, I, I think looking further back in the game for Adil Rashid to only have bowled three overs on a pitch that should have suited him means that he was a bit off the money today. I think the bowling in general was maybe a touch predictable. I think you have to find what works on any given pitch but I think you have to intersperse that with, with different tactics or different deliveries just so that batters can't get used to just one pace of ball coming down at your. One type of ball coming down at you. So I think that England will look at it on the whole as a job well done. I thought they batted really well in that first innings. I thought Brook made some really sensible decisions with the bat in hand. Seeing off their dangerous bowlers in attacking when the odds were far more in his favor. I thought that he deserves credit for that. But just that little bit less predictable with the ball in hand is something I think those bowlers will, will reflect.

Upon every close game. Prakash is an opportunity for learning. You wouldn't have expected it to be against these opponents, but dealing with pressure is pressure regardless. There's always pressure when, when you come close in a game and. And indeed England have found that albeit against an opponent. They wouldn't have anticipated that to get that to be the case.

Well, I think it works both ways, doesn't it? In the fact that the, the more fancy team probably carries that much more pressure of expectation, whereas the one that's less fancied I think just goes out there and gives it its all because they know that the majority of people expect them to lose. They have absolutely nothing to lose. They go out there, play their best cricket and once again that old adage in this T20 format in particular that Ms. Dhoni in particular always talked about was take the game deep. And I think that's what Nepal did. We said twice in commentary, if not thrice, looks like that's the game done. When that big partnership of ATR was broken, when the both those set batters were out, we thought this was it and England would probably win by 20, 30 runs, at least comfortably. But then we saw what happened, as you described, in the last 18th and 19th over and commit the r. Commit the man, this man, Sam Curran, when he's playing in India and he just does something very, very special. Not to take anything away from his performances around the world, but Nepal will take huge heart from this. And I think it, as Finney very rightly said, there's a case to find ways, even outside multi. Multination formats, for the associate countries to be given the opportunity and for the established cricketing nations to play mandatorily play more cricket with these nations to give them the opportunity of developing their very obvious talent.

Well, I want to get into that more, more deeply shortly with some of the thrills that we've had in the tournament, albeit without a shock per se. But what I will ask you, Finney, first of all is, is England's bowling. You look at some of the figures there. Luke Wood, 3 overs, 1 for 31. Joffer Archer, 4 overs, 1 for 42. Adil Rashid, 3 overs, none for 42. And then Curran's figures, 4 overs, 1 for 27. Jax, 1 for 17 off 2. There were some expensive spells there from some experienced bowlers.

Yeah, there were, but I would say that we shouldn't read too much into that because it's T20 cricket and that can happen. I think that the thing that England will reflect upon is that predictableness at times. With the leg cutters from Joffre archer, after his first over, I think he'd have 90% leg cutters, which allows the batters, even if they. They are effective for an over, as they were in his second over, if it then becomes predictable in the third and fourth, then people can stand there and hit them for six. And that's what happened. And Adil Rashid as well, with how slow he bowled in his first couple of overs, I don't know if he was expecting maybe the. The Nepalese batters to.

Well, here comes the. The Nepalese captain and Rohit Kumar paddle.

Is with Nasser Hussein disappointed, but in equal measure incredibly proud of your team.

Yes, disappointment is there, but at the same time, I think as a team, I'm very proud. I'm very proud of the team. The way the boys have shown that effort against England, that takes a lot of appreciation. And when we step up Today in the, in the ground the only message to the group was whatever we have will give 110% in the ground. And I think boys have given all what they had and that's what makes them different and I'm very proud of them.

Shows how far you've come as a cricketing nation that you can be here disappointed you've not got over the line against two time champions England. You played a lot of good cricket in that game.

Yeah, absolutely. I think we had that belief when we came in this World Cup. We didn't came here to just participate, we wanted to compete and we had that belief in the group that we can beat any of the sides if we play our best brand of cricket. And I thought today we played our best brand of cricket.

What did you make of your performance in the field and with the ball?

I think today overall if you see the result wise it didn't went away but the efforts wise I would give 100% on both fielding, bowling and batting.

Those last three overs went for 45. Is there anything in hindsight you could have done differently?

Yes, I think in that area we can, we can improve. I thought England were also struggling with the death over bowling. But last over Sam Karan bowled really well. So I thought it's hard for bowlers in death was to bowl, especially in the death over to execute those yorkers, those slow bounces. So I thought we missed on that part. But at the same time I think we'll improve from there.

And with the bat, that partnership with Dipindra Singh Iri, what were you saying to each other?

We were calculating just for last five hours. We wanted wickets in hand and at least 10 or 12 overs per over. So we were discussing about that only and we're targeting first two boss for boundaries and it's just the overs.

Not many times Adil Rashid gets taken down. Was that a plan to go after him or is that just how it worked out?

No, it was not a particular plan to take on Ail Rasid but it happened and I thought, we thought as a group that we thought as Dipindra and we thought that we could take on him today and it went good for us.

Next up for you is Italy. It's a real message to the rest of the group. You're going to have to be at your best to beat Nepal. Those games become vital for you now.

Yeah, absolutely. I think we will not take any of the teams lightly and I think all other teams in this tournament will not take any of the three teams or any teams lightly. So that's the message. But we as a team need to be on 100%.

Quick word for the fans. You always play in front of a full crowd, but to do it here in India must be very special.

Yeah, absolutely. They're very passionate. If you see today, whole Kathmandu, whole Nepal came here to support us and that's great to see them here and that motivates us. When we went to the ground, we carry your hopes, we carry your belief, and I thought, I think today we gave everything and I think today all Nepal would be very proud of all of us.

I know you're disappointed, but it was an absolute pleasure to watch your side today. Well done and commiseration.

Thank you.

Harry. I said to you at the toss, there are no easy games in this tournament. That did not look like an easy game.

It wasn't easy at all. But thankfully we got over the line.

A word on the opposition. You know, from where they've come from in international cricket to push you so hard. There's a lot of talent in that side.

Yeah, they played extremely well. And I just heard you say that not many teams take Adel Rashid down the way they did, and I thought they played against him outstanding. And, yeah, they put us in a tricky situation for quite a few occasions there as well.

What did you make at the halfway stage? 184. Were you pretty pleased with that?

Yeah, definitely. I thought we were in a very good position to be able to defend that, and I didn't quite think it was going to go as close as that. But hats off to the the Nepalese team. They played extremely well and I wish them all the best for the rest of the competition.

That's 12 wins in 13. Now on the back of wins in Sri Lanka. And you're getting performances from a lot of different people, aren't you? It's not just one or two cricketers again. It was Will Jacks at the end, it was Bethel at the start. That must please you.

Yeah, awesome. Beth played outstanding. The way that he was rocking back and smacking the spinners into the stand was really nice to watch. And then the way that Jaxie just slipped into his role there at number seven, he hasn't done much of it, but the way that he batted at the end there has won us the game.

That last drinks break came at a good time for you. The captain and vice captain was building a healthy partnership. You got in a huddle. What did you say?

I just said we put two or three wickets on this and it all changes. And yeah, we didn't quite get them rewards but we managed to stick to our guns and, and we stay calm.

Out there and did through. Did it throw you a little bit with Adil going around? I mean, I think it's the first time in 25 games he's gone wickedness. Does that throw you a bit as a captain with your plans?

We have so many options out there. I don't think Sam bowled until a lot later on than usual in the, in the, in the 20 overs. But yeah, obviously it wasn't ideal. Rascoe in getting a little bit of tap there. It's not often that he doesn't bowl four overs as well. So, yeah, look, it's just one of them days for him and I'm sure he'll bounce back better.

But you did have Sam Curran just to have that experience to defend 10 in the last over. He nailed his skills brilliantly under pressure.

Yeah, unbelievable. And we were both fairly calm out there. He knew exactly what he was going to try and do and he executed outstandingly.

Well played personally, well played as a team. West Indies next for you. Good luck with that.

Thank you.

Well, that was Harry Brook, evidently relieved, chatting to Nasser Hussein there on the boundary edge. Stephen, it will be a massive relief this to Harry Brook and you know, he was honest about that and, and, and recognized the fact that this game had gone close and he, he was tested as a captain.

Absolutely. But tested to stay calm under pressure. And that's one thing that you did look at him in particular and Sam Curran when Sam Curren was formulating that final over with, with Brook and then when they, they paused the game in between each delivery to make sure that they were aligned. I never, it never looked to me as though there was panic there. There'd have been a lot going on inside his head about the plans, about the bowlers, about. About where he wants his field. But, but I thought him and Curran in particular at the end there stayed calm and I think that bodes well.

And Prakash, the need to be able to cope with those pressure situations is, is a vital part of any side winning a World cup and arguably part of what undid India in 20, 23 and 50 over cricket was. It was all a bit easy until the final.

It was and I think it's important. But to, to your point, I think what, what really struck me, Henry, was the composure after the game with which the. The Nepal captain Rohit Podel spoke again with Nas when, when we heard that interview as well. It just shows that There is, there is resilience, belief and the ability to take these, these kind of close losses. It obviously hurts a lot, but take it in the spirit of a developmental process and not believe that everything is lost. We, we saw tears in, in Lokesh Baum's eyes as he came off, because he was the man there who was tasked with getting those 10 runs and he, he, he couldn't. But it was also, in most measure, because of the way, as you've described Sam Current bowling that final over, I think all of that just helps build that, that sort of confidence around the group. And I think Nepal can hold themselves really, really proud. And I think the other teams will be very, very, very. Remember, they play their games all here at the 1K Stadium. This is going to be the support they're going to get. So they're going to be playing with, I don't know, 35,000 people backing them. After this performance, there'll probably be more people coming in.

Well, I bet there will be. I was up in the stand for a little bit during that second innings when the sixes were flying. It was unbelievable. It really was absolutely sensational. Steven. Normally at this point, I would suggest that Harry Brook would be buying Sam Curran a beer, but I think given everything over the last few weeks, it maybe isn't the phrase to use.

Well, five hours till their curfew, you never know what they, what they might get up to. But look, it's. I think they'll just be sat in that dressing room evaluating what's gone on. I think also celebrating the fact that it was a close game and that they did manage to stay calm in that situation. But, yeah, they'd have preferred it was an easier, easier start to the tournament for them than they certainly had today.

10 runs were required from the final over for Nepal to inflict what would have been a major uptick set on England. Sam Curran was tasked with bowling that over. Just five runs came from it and he's been speaking to Test match specials.

Adam Mountford, Sam Curren. Well bowled. Never in doubt, was it?

Wow. I wouldn't say quite about that, but we could laugh now, but I think fair play to Nepal. They were absolutely incredible in that chase all game. And, yeah, I guess we win with the two points, but it just shows how competitive this World cup is going to be. We saw yesterday as well, with a couple of the smaller nations nearly taking down India, the Pakistan, stuff like that, so it's pretty nerves there, but we got it done.

You've played a lot of International cricket. You've been a player of a tournament. You played a lot of domestic cricket, you played a lot of T tent cricket. But talk us through the pressure of boring and last over with one of the biggest shocks in cricket history on the cards.

Yeah, it was, to be fair, I kind of one of those moments where I think you practice and you hope that you execute. Execute. And I kind of said to Brookie, I'm backing six yorkers here and I'll take the hit if I don't execute. And I think you've got to think like that. I weirdly thought of the 2016 final when Carlos got got hold of Stokesy and I was kind of thinking, well, if I execute, he's not gonna hit me for six. And top of my mark. I just watched his feet and thankfully executed. And those games are great to win, but wow, it would have been a horrible one to lose.

Can you just explain to people. People will look at it from the outside and say this is a double world champion winning side taking on Nepal. Obviously a horrible phrase, minnow. And it was that close. Can you explain how that happens?

Yeah, it's crazy. I guess when I went to bed last night, we got told kind of around dinner and stuff that it's a full house here. We knew it was going to be full of Nepal fans almost. I've played a lot of cricket in India. I've never heard an atmosphere quite like it. It was pretty incredible and I think it just shows the strength and depth of world cricket at the moment. I think the associate nations are playing more often and they're getting so much better and obviously getting exposed to better cricket, better grounds. And I just thought the way they played our spinners was. And obviously the way they hit the ball so clean, they ran like absolute sprinters in the middle. It was kind of two every ball, then a boundary and we couldn't stop them. And yeah, I think they've. They're a dangerous team throughout this World cup so we watch out for them.

Talk us through. First of all, I suppose England's batting. Did you think you had enough runs at the halfway stage? Because you actually had a slightly difficult start losing those three weeks wickets.

Yeah, we did. We took. We took a. Almost not. I wouldn't say a punt, but I think we thought runs on the board. We watched India USA yesterday. We thought a used wicket. I think you look at it now, obviously you can't see now, but it's obviously dark and fraction bit of juice. So you could argue the wicket did get Slightly better and maybe we got the. The toss we could have chased, but I think that's quite. And we laugh about it now, but we take those two points and take great confidence because it wouldn't be a nice dress room this evening.

And in terms of the back, obviously Jacob Bethel and Harry Brook with the half century, we all know he's had a challenging few weeks. He'd be very pleased in his first game as a World cup. Winning World cup playing captain to have a half century.

Yeah, exactly. Brookie's dealt with it all brilliantly. I think our big thing is trying to stick with him and trying to support him. Everyone makes those little mistakes, but it's kind of a good six, seven, eight weeks ago now and I think we got to focus on the World cup and hopefully we can. And I think a win like today hopefully can give us a little bit of a. Not a wake up call, but just a nice little. We got the two points and we move on. And even someone like Jaxie, and that's those. You look at those sixes he hit towards the end. In the end it was probably a match winning Knock and Beth, great knock, played the spin really well. And yeah, again, lots to learn. We play at the same ground on Wednesday versus West Indies, so that'll be exciting as well.

And in terms, in terms of Harry as a captain, I mean, that's quite a test, isn't it? And he got through it.

Yeah, massively. I think T20 is actually such a tough format. You've got to make some tricky calls, tough decisions here and there. But at the end of the day, we 11 players out on the field supporting Harry and we've got a lot of experienced guys like Joss, myself, we've captained around the world and great coaches around him are all helping him and yeah, hopefully he can let the bat do the talking.

And talking about players with experience, I mean, Liam Dawson was first in a World cup squad 10 years ago, gets to play his first game, gets a wicket in the first over and actually played quite important role.

Yeah.

And I'd recognize with him this morning, I think he was saying it's his first, first game in a World cup and he's been involved in so many. So yeah, he's such a quality, experienced player. He obviously he probably should have played a lot more for England throughout his career, but shows his character later on in his career. Two for 20 or whatever he got. And he's just such a canny bowler, so clever alongside Rash and the other spinners, so sure he's going to play a huge role in this World cup.

And it shows just how impressive this Nepal batting was, was that they got after two of your bankers really in Al Rashid and Joffer Archer.

Yeah, it was amazing. I guess that's the hardest thing about these guys playing them. You don't really see them huge amounts. Obviously you've got the Nepal league that's getting bigger and bigger, which I saw a couple of our English boys have been to and they said it's fantastic. And like I said, they some of the shots in the last three four overs on the up off Joff and then rash reverse sweep for six. It's serious stuff and you can't underestimate these guys anymore and fair play to them. And I think the other guys in the group, thankfully we passed them now because there'll be a few nervous other teams but I guess that's. We can laugh like I said now, but no doubt that was a cracking game in the World cup. To life.

And as you say, the fact that you've got those two points, you've got through that game okay, it's a massive scare. But I suppose you take some sort of confidence.

Oh, massively. I think those. I played a lot of T20 cricket. When you win the close ones, it's actually the ones that give you a little boost and a little bit of smile on your face saying, wow, a couple of sixes there, we got hit four, we can get those away. And yeah, it's exciting. I think it would be different if we lost, obviously. But no, I think we're a very honest team with ourselves. We'll sit in the dressroom tonight and chat about what we did well, what we can do better and rest day tomorrow and then we're back training ahead of West Indies which I'm sure will be another cracking game.

Yeah, and you'll go into that with that confidence. But a difficult challenge, of course, the West Indies.

Oh, of course. They're such a powerful, dynamic side and we play against them a load around the world and obviously at the ground like the Wanketti small, very good wicket. I'm sure it'll be a few fireworks from both sides and again, you never know, it will come down to that execution with the ball for both teams and I think it's not. We had a nice little build up to this World cup and I think we've been tested on so many surfaces, pressure situations. But you know, I'm smiling now, but don't worry, deep down I was.

I'm very, very Nervous, really well bowled.

Thank you. Cheers.

So England get the victory thanks to the efforts of Curran not least, but holding his nerve there. And I love the reference to Carlos Brathwaite and the thoughts of 2016 and keeping his nerve and all of those things. Really honest interview, I thought, and, and that will stand England in good stead. And having somebody with that sort of skill at the back end of an innings as well is going to be absolutely vital for them. So England relieved, no question about that. And they can head to their next match here on Wednesday against West Indies in Mumbai. Speaking of Carlos Brathwaite, a Repeat of that 2016 final, that one gets underway at 1:30 in the afternoon UK time, so look out for that. Can't wait to bring that one to you. But what about the tournament more widely so far, Prakash? Because we've seen some brilliant games of cricket. We really have. We haven't had the big shock, but the first day saw the Netherlands coming oh so close against Pakistan. We saw a really excellent performance from USA here against India. Scotland gave a good go against West Indies. It's, it's been already thriller minute and as Stephen mentioned earlier, the game is so much richer for the opportunity for some of the, and I don't like the phrase smaller nations to get the chance to take on some of the, some of the full members.

Oh, absolutely. And there can be a debate. There simply cannot be a debate about this anymore. I believe, and I think that the reality is that because of the way the T20 format is played, it sort of evens out the playing field. It gives greater opportunity. If you don't necessarily have that sort of cricketing infrastructure where people are coming through the age groups, you've got multiple leagues and clubs. When I was reading somewhere, all the cricket in Italy is played on Astroturf, so when they come out and play on natural grass, it's a very different ball game. So I think much as one would like to see an expanded 50 over World cup, and that's for another time, but the reality is I think this T20 format is the one that is going to drive the growth of cricket, in my opinion. And I think it's vital that the ICC and all the other folks that are meant to drive the development of the game do this wholeheartedly, be it with, with more resources, more funding, more opportunities and that is how we'll see this game that we all love, I think become a more global sport than.

What it is today and a more entertaining sport.

Absolutely.

Just the jeopardy that we felt and that We've seen over the last 36 hours in this tournament alone where the associate nations and the not quite so developed nations in terms of their cricketing development have run some of the bigger teams really close and that jeopardy is something that makes people fascinating in the story of a World Cup. So yeah, I completely agree with you, Prakash. I think you're right. On the 50 over World cup over a longer period of time, the stronger teams will always or more often than not come out on top. But this tournament the way it is, I think think is set up really.

Well and I think if I can just, just add, I, I feel that because the, the associate nation teams, there's greater hunger, there is a lot more riding on these games and these performances than it is say for an England or, or in Australia or India where I think in, in certain manner, particularly economically, the players, I'm not suggesting they're not committed, I'm not saying they don't do their best, but I think there's just so much more riding on these performances. We heard about, you know, what happened during COVID many of the Dutch players, one of them in particular I believe was delivering food just to make ends meet. I mean these are not professional cricketers. This is not how they earn their living. And to be able to do that, what could they deliver on a cricket pitch? Just imagine.

Yeah, and it's that continuing argument that is made about opportunity and reward and, and it is why we have such deep conversations about things like the situation and the importance of the India Pakistan match happening because the finances that come into the game because of it then filter down to give the opportunity for teams like Nepal to develop in the way that we've seen them do. But that is an argument for another day. This tournament is going to see some shocks. It has to because so far we've come so close.

What's bubbling, isn't it? It. We said before that first game that, that there will be a shock result somewhere. It's almost happened again. We almost saw three yesterday, so. And, and yeah, the Afghanistan and New Zealand early of Afghanistan beating someone is no longer a shock. They, they make knockout ends of tournaments. So yeah, there will be, there will be a shock at some stage and England have avoided that today.

Yep, they have and they'll be mighty relieved to have done so as well. Prakash Wakanka, Stephen Finn, thank you very much indeed. There's going to be so much more from Test Match Special across the rest of the men's T20 World cup, not least every ball of every game available for you to listen to and this opening phase as well. Three matches a day, five, 39, 31, 30. Those are the times you need to look for. UK time, that is as we go through the day enjoying cricket all the way through it. And if you can't get enough that then there's podcast as well from Test Match Special where you can get all the analysis and reaction to what we've seen here in India and also in Sri Lanka. And you can still listen back to plenty of content from across the recent Ashes series too. It is a treasure trove of audio delights. The Test Match Special podcast on BBC Sound, so do look out for that. Thank you so much for listening. England's next game is against West Indies, a one point start on Wednesday here in Mumbai. On paper, that looked like it was going to be a bigger test in this World cup group. As it is, I think we've learned that this competition is going to provide thrills and spills and as the old cliche goes, there's no such thing as an easy game. Prakash Finney again, thank you so much for joining me and thank you for listening. We'll speak to you again very soon. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live. With VRBoCare.

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