Associate nations dominate World Champions in WC 2026:Nepal, America, Netherlands dominate WC winners; USA defeated Pakistan in WC 2024

The old structure of the cricket world is changing. Gone are the days when big teams would treat associate nations like net practice on the field. The first 3 days of the T20 World Cup have proven that there’s now an atmosphere of fear in cricket’s ‘elite club’. Nepal made England sweat, the Netherlands increased Pakistan’s heartbeat, and America even challenged Team India. Today, once again, America faces Pakistan, and believe me, the pressure will be more on Pakistan. 1. Nepal Scared England Low fees, high spirits When Nepal’s team faced the 2022 World Champions, England, no one thought the match would go till the last over. Against English players who play in the world’s most expensive league were Nepal’s players, whose match fees aren’t even equal to one day’s breakfast money of England’s players. Nepalese players get just Rs 3500 for a T20 match, while English players earn Rs 4.50 lakh by playing one T20. Not only this, the top player included in the annual contract in Nepal gets only Rs 7.50 lakh for one year. English players earn more than this by playing just 2 T20s. Victory of Passion: Nepal’s spinners made England’s middle order batters dance to their tune. They kept the run scoring in check and didn’t allow 200 runs even on Wankhede Stadium’s batting pitch. England scored 184 runs, in response Nepal reached 180, but couldn’t win the match. 2. Netherlands came close to defeating Pakistan: Now this is not an ‘upset’ We must stop calling the Netherlands a ‘small’ team. This is the same team that defeated South Africa in the 2022 World Cup and England in 2009. In the opening match of the current World Cup against Pakistan, the team came close to achieving a similar feat. Batting first in Colombo, the Netherlands scored 147 runs. Pakistan had lost only 2 wickets at 98 runs at one point, but the Netherlands made a comeback and reduced the score to 100/5. In the final overs, the team dropped a catch of Faheem Ashraf, who hit 3 sixes in the 20th over to give Pakistan a close 3-wicket victory. Strategy expert: The Netherlands now wins matches not by luck, but through data and excellent fielding. Against Pakistan, too, the team made excellent use of slower balls and spinners according to the pitch. This increased pressure on Pakistan. 3. America surprised ‘home team’ India: Have already beaten Pakistan America (USA) is currently emerging as the new ‘Giant Killer’ of world cricket. The team knocked Pakistan out in the group stage by defeating them in a super over in 2024. Then they entered the Super-8 and qualified for the 2026 ICC tournament. In the opening match against India, the team adopted excellent field placement and strategy to take 4 wickets in the powerplay itself. Medium pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk took 4 wickets and didn’t allow the Indian batting to score runs quickly. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav somehow got India past 160 by scoring a fifty. Due to which the team was able to win the match by 29 runs. Excellent field placement: Against India, the USA got Abhishek Sharma caught at the extra cover position during the powerplay. Usually, this fielder is not positioned at the boundary during powerplay, but the USA planned their strategy and bowling to get the wicket. How are Associate nations playing so well? Playing Well, But Why Can’t They Win? Nepal, Netherlands and America showed heart-winning gameplay, but failed to cross the finishing line. ‘Pressure handling’ is the main reason behind this. Pakistan Steps Out Today to Save Pride In the World Cup, a Group-A match between Pakistan and America will be played today from 7 PM. While Pakistan won a close match against the Netherlands, America lost to India by 29 runs. America had defeated Pakistan in the last World Cup; if the team beats them again this time, Pakistan’s chances of reaching Super-8 will diminish.