Lokesh Bam played an innings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday that Nepali cricket will remember for a long time. Had it taken Nepal across the finishing line, Lokesh's innings would have been one of the best of the Twenty20 World Cup.

Lokesh missed after taking Nepal close to victory. Nepal lost the match by 4 runs after scoring only 7 runs in the last 8 balls. Lokesh's bat stopped in the last over when Nepal needed 10 runs to win. On the other hand, England's Sam Curran, who became the Player of the Match in the 2022 World Twenty20 final, bowled brilliantly, but Nepal once again missed the chance to win against the Test nation.

After Curran hit a yorker in the last over, Lokesh and Karan KC's bats could not swing. Lokesh sat down with his bat after failing to hit the six required for victory on the last ball. If Lokesh had hit a six to make Nepal win, it would have been another unforgettable winning six at Wankhede. When India won the World Cup in 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored the winning run against Sri Lanka in the final at Wankhede. Lokesh said that even though he was aware of the yorker bowling, he expected to hit a big shot if the ball did not come in that order. ‘It will be a good challenge to play with the players I have seen on TV, but we gave them good competition,’ Lokesh said, ‘I did not play by their names, I was playing by the ball. In the situation where I reached the crease, there was no other option but to hit the ball. I tried to hit the ball only.’ Lokesh England used their experience in the last over to win the match despite scoring 39 not out off 20 balls. He hit England’s main strike bowler Jofra Archer for two consecutive sixes in the 18th over. Lokesh hit a slow bouncer to midwicket on the first ball and a straight six on the second ball. Lokesh's innings had a boldness that typified the Nepali team. Lokesh showed no fear when facing the fast bowler Archer.

Despite playing his first Twenty20 World Cup, Lokesh seemed to be steeped in batting experience. Nepal had stunned a team that had won the Twenty20 World Cup twice. This time too, England is seen as the main contender. England, under the captaincy of Harry Brook, has been winning most of the Twenty20 matches in the last year. 'We almost beat England,' Lokesh said, 'anything can happen now.' We believe in our team and we will take this belief to the next match.'

Lokesh was dropped from the selection at the last minute of the 2024 World Cup two years ago. Lokesh does not want to return to that. He made a place in the team as the second wicketkeeper. But many questions were raised about his selection in the playing 11. Lokesh could not do much with the bat in the two practice matches against UAE and Canada. While Sandeep Jora, who had a match-winning partnership with Canada, was benched and Lokesh was played.

Although Lokesh made his Twenty20 International debut against UAE in February 2022, his place in the Nepali team was never confirmed. He has played only 24 matches in four years. When the Ireland 'A' team visited Nepal just before the 2024 World Cup, Lokesh scored 106 runs in a match. After scoring a century in that match, he took his bat to the Chobhar End to celebrate. That is the only century scored by a Nepali player in Twenty20 in the last three years. Despite that, he was not included in the Nepali World Cup team that went to America and the West Indies.

He sees a lack of experience in not being able to score the winning runs in the match against England and blames himself, not others. He believes that since it was his first World Cup, he could not play according to plan due to lack of experience.

The 'track' he caught from Mumbai

Lokesh's sporting career caught 'track' from Mumbai. In 2015, when the country was suffering from the earthquake, the Dhangadhi Cricket Academy (DCA) decided to send its team to Mumbai. Lokesh was joined by Subodh (Suvas) Air, Rit Gautam, Pratish GC, Sarthak Sedhai and others in the team. Lokesh had joined DCA just three months before that.

Lokesh had scored 106 runs on the first day of a two-day match against Sindh Sports Club at the Azad Maidan near Wankhede, when he was 15 years old. This gave him a great experience and also gave him the opportunity to learn new things.

‘It was a lot of experience to come and play in a big city of cricket at that time, it was a new place for me, seeing the cricket culture here, my love for this game increased even more,’ Lokesh recalled a visit 10 years ago, ‘Cricket was played everywhere in Mumbai. Playing at the Azad Maidan was a different experience. Only 30 yards were for the team we were playing in, the area beyond that had to be shared with others. The ball we bowled would go towards them, and the ball they bowled would also come towards us.’