ICC Men’s T20 WC 2026 | Match 5: England vs Nepal | Preview and Prediction

A new-look England side, under the leadership of Harry Brook, will look to start their tournament in the right manner as they square off against Nepal in Match 5 of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Here, we present our preview and predictions for the game.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Match 5: ENG vs NEP | 15:00 IST, February 8, 2026

England enter this tournament seeking a fresh revival of their T20 fortunes under a new captain and a new-ish head coach. Harry Brook has been given the mantle to take over this England side from Jos Buttler, as the management look for freshness in leadership, while red-ball coach Brendon McCullum has been elevated and handed the ODI and T20I responsibilities as well.

England had a rather productive 2025 in terms of results in the shortest format of the game. They are unbeaten in their last 15 T20Is, winning 11 of them, with the other four of them being no-results. This run includes impressive victories against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, with good showings against South Africa and New Zealand also in the mix.

In Jos Buttler and Phil Salt, England have arguably one of the best opening pairs in the game. Buttler’s calculating aggression complements Salt’s belligerent bravado rather nicely at the top of the order. Jacob Bethell, Brook, and Will Jacks are expected to provide the ammunition in the middle overs, while the likes of Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Rehan Ahmed, and Adil Rashid will look to restrict teams with their variety and skill with the ball.

It will be very interesting to see how Brook fares in his first major assignment as England’s white-ball skipper. There has been a huge show of confidence and faith in appointing him as captain, and now it is up to him to deliver the results under the weight of huge expectations, while also maintaining his form and reputation with the bat.

Their opponents, Nepal, have entered the tournament on the back of a successful qualifying campaign and will look to punch above their weight in the competition in conditions that are much friendlier to them.

They gave a very good account of themselves in the 2024 edition as well, almost upsetting the likes of Bangladesh and eventual finalists South Africa, but lack of experience playing in big tournaments went against them.

This time around, Nepal are better prepared in terms of experience and will look to upset the apple cart with a few big scalps.

While Nepal are the plucky upstarts looking to make a big splash very early into the tournament, it will be very difficult to beat England given the quality and the players they have at their disposal, making them our favourites to win this contest.

Fantasy XI: Jos Buttler (wk), Phil Salt, Dipendra Singh Airee, Rohit Paudel, Harry Brook, Will Jacks, Jacob Bethell, Adil Rashid, Sandeep Lamichhane, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue

Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Winners Prediction: England