Making their debut at the T20 World Cup, Italy produced a result few saw coming, thrashing Nepal by 10 wickets in a statement win. Nepal had pushed England to the brink in their previous match and were widely expected to cruise past the newcomers. Instead, it was Italy who dominated from start to finish.
The Harry Manenti-led side showed remarkable composure, restricting Nepal to 123 and then making light work of the chase. The target was overhauled in just 12.4 overs, with the batters playing with freedom and confidence at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It was a clinical performance and should give them plenty of confidence for the remainder of the matches.
For Italian cricket, the victory could prove to be a watershed moment. Head coach John Davison did not hide his excitement after the match, expressing hope that the achievement would make headlines back home.
“This will be front page news in a lot of countries and a lot of publications in Italy I would imagine...I'm hoping," Davison told reporters after the match.
“For us to get that sort of exposure and maybe knock off the Winter Olympics off (to) the back page of the sport would be unbelievable for cricket in the country and (it would) just bring some attention to it," he added.
Dreamt for a long time: Manenti
The stand-in Italy captain highlighted the importance of the game, stating that it was a dream for all the players. He added that the qualification felt great but the ultimate goal was to compete at the highest level and prove their worth in the middle, which was achieved against Nepal.
“Yeah, it's pretty extraordinary, really. It's something that a lot of people in Italy, a lot of people in this group have dreamt of for a long time. When we qualified, that was obviously a special moment, but our goal was always to compete at this level and compete in this top competition, and we showed that today. We didn't quite nail it the other day, but we backed it up today and showed the world what we've got,” Manenti said in the post-match presentation.
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