England’s men might soon be packing their bags for Kathmandu. The ECB has confirmed it is looking at pencilling in a short T20I trip to Nepal somewhere in the 2027-31 Future Tours Programme (FTP) – a move that would make England the highest-profile side yet to visit the Himalayan nation.
Nothing is signed, buried in stone or whatever phrase you prefer. The board is still thrashing out dates with other countries and, crucially, waiting on the ICC to tidy up the World Test Championship format. (There’s talk the two-Test minimum could disappear, which would shift quite a few chess pieces.) Even so, people inside Lord’s say a two- or three-match T20I stop-over – probably tacked onto a longer white-ball tour of India or the UAE – is on the table.
Key facts first
• The idea falls inside the 2027-31 FTP window.
• It would almost certainly be T20-only, squeezing into a gap before a larger tour elsewhere.
• Nepal have never hosted a Test-playing nation for a full international series.
• Ireland are due to tour there in the 2026-27 winter under a five-year partnership announced in March.
How did we get here?
England and Nepal met for the very first time at this February’s T20 World Cup in Mumbai. England scraped home off the final ball, but the image that stuck was the sea of Nepalese shirts and flags around the Wankhede. A couple of days later Paras Khadka – former captain, now CAN secretary – grabbed coffee with ECB officials in India. Those chats, sources say, planted the idea of a follow-up series on Nepalese soil.
Khadka has been anything but quiet. In Sky Sports’ documentary ‘Nepal: Climbing Cricket’s Mountain’, aired on Sunday, he laid it out: “What Nepal cricket needs right now is exposure… the only way you improve as a cricketer is when you play against better cricketers.” He reckons a headline tour would “ignite this whole generation of kids back home” because “cricket is not just a sport. It’s the most uniting factor”.
Current Nepal captain Rohit Paudel hit the same note during the World Cup. “It would mean a lot, especially if Australia or England comes to Nepal,” he said. “That would show world cricket [that] Nepal also plays cricket, and plays decent cricket… It is very important.”
Why England might say yes
From an English angle the idea actually solves two problems. First, players flying east for a bigger series already worry about adjusting to conditions; a whistle-stop in Kathmandu offers low-stakes match practice. Second, the ECB, forever conscious of its global-development brief, can tick the ‘grow the game’ box without breaking the bank. The notion of big teams helping emerging nations is still popular inside ICC corridors, even if the calendar groans every time someone adds another fixture.
Scheduling remains the headache
England’s 2027 summer at home is heavy: Ashes in the middle, Pakistan beforehand and New Zealand afterwards. Away commitments in that four-year cycle include a mooted trip to India and a possible WTC final. Slipping Nepal in without over-loading players will take some creative diary work, and the ECB is wary of fatigue after the recent debates around player welfare.
A glance at Nepal’s rise
Nepal only beat a Full Member for the first time last year, turning over West Indies in the UAE. Crowds at Tribhuvan University ground regularly top 15,000, and plans for a new venue in Pokhara are crawling forward. Off the field, CAN has stabilised after years of boardroom wrangling, and that new tie-up with Cricket Ireland should bring coaching exchanges, age-group tours and, hopefully, a firm fixture list.
What happens next?
The ICC expects to finalise the broad-brush FTP and WTC tweaks by early next year. Once that lands, bilateral agreements will be inked. Insiders at both CAN and the ECB suggest a decision on an England tour could follow quickly – simply because the window, if it exists, will be narrow.
A note of caution
We have been here before. Bigger nations have floated tours to Associate or lower-ranked Full Members only for calendars, TV rights or financial returns to knock the idea over. Nepal’s ability to host – security, broadcast, hotels, floodlights – will be scrutinised line by line.
Still, the mood is quietly optimistic. One ECB staffer, speaking off the record, summed it up: “The game in Nepal is buzzing. If we can make the dates work, why wouldn’t we go?”
For now, players and fans will watch the FTP dots join themselves. If it happens, England’s maiden trip up the mountains could be small in length but sizeable in meaning – and, for once, everyone seems keen to give it a proper go.
