The Nepali cricket team will return home from the T20 World Cup with their heads held high despite yet another near miss in pulling off their first-ever win over a Test nation in Kingstown.

After being agonisingly close to capping one of the biggest upsets in cricket history against South Africa two days ago, the Rhinos, led by the tournament’s youngest captain Rohit Paudel, had Bangladesh, another full member nation, on the ropes with their eye-popping bowling display on Monday.

Nepal opted to field first after winning the toss and wrapped up the Tigers for a low total of 106, with Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airee, Rohit Paudel and Sandeep Lamichhane all dominating with the ball with two wickets apiece.

They had come within two runs of overhauling a slightly bigger target against the Proteas, and the 107-run target was something they would have settled for.

But Nepal’s batters could not cope with the bowling masterclass of Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman, and were eventually all out for 85 against a Bangladeshi side that needed at least one point to ensure progress to the Super Eight stage.

“As a bowling unit, we bowled really well. As a batting unit, we could have done better, especially the top order batters. We could have batted tighter,” Paudel said at the presentation following the loss.