Mumbai, February 12
A commanding display from Italy as they registered their first-ever win in the ICC tournament after the European nation thrashed Nepal by 10 wickets in their Group C match at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
Italy showcased their all-round efforts throughout the match as Nepal were outclassed by the T20 World Cup debutants, as they clinched a memorable win at the Wankhede.
Chasing 124, openers and brothers Justin Mosca and Anthony Mosca got Italy to a decent start as they scored 16 runs in the first two overs. Anthony slammed a couple of boundaries in the initial overs.
In the very next over, Nepal bowler Karan KC was hammered for 14 runs by Justin with a six and two fours as Italy reached 30/0.
The European Nation brought up their fifty in just four overs after another expensive over, when the openers hammered Lalit Rajbanshi for 20 runs. The World Cup debutants ended the powerplay with a blazing score of 68/0.
Both openers continued their onslaught against the Rhinos after Italy reached a commanding 97/0 in the 10th over.
Both brothers brought up their respective half-centuries in the 11th over, with Justin reaching the milestone in 37 balls and Anthony in 28 deliveries.
It was a fantastic display of batting by Italy as they chased down the target in just 12.4 overs. They thrashed Nepal by 10 wickets, as Italy registered their first-ever win in the ICC tournament.
Earlier, after winning the toss, the Italian bowlers delivered a brilliant performance, restricting Nepal to a scant 123 runs in their Group C match.
The Rhinos were off to a shaky start after losing Kushal Bhurtel (5) to Ali Hasan in the second over as Nepal scored 8/1.
Aasif Sheikh and captain Rohit Paudel stitched a 41-run stand for the second wicket until they lost two quick wickets.
Paudel lost his wicket to Kalugamage, and Aasif was dismissed by Ben Manenti, leaving Nepal crumbled to 49/3 in the eighth over.
Then a vital 43-run fourth-wicket partnership between Dipendra Singh Airee and Aarif Sheikh followed, before another collapse. However, a sudden collapse happened after a brilliant bowling performance by Italy.
Dipendra Singh Airee went after scoring 17; Aarif scored 27, Lokesh Bam (3), Gulsan Jha (3), and Nadan Yadav (0) as Nepal crumbled to 8/102 in the 17th over. Nepal lost 5 wickets for just nine runs.
Towards the end, Nepal were bundled out for a below-par score of 123 in 19.3 overs. For Italy, Ben Manenti (2/9), Ali Hasan (1/34), JJ Smuts (1/22), Kalugamage (3/18) and Jaspreet Singh (1/8) were among the wicket takers.
- ANI
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