Nepal vs Italy, 17th Match, Group C, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

For a nation that grew up idolising the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Paulo Maldini, Roberto Baggio, Fabio Cannavaro and the rest of their footballing heroes, time now to look up to the Mosca brothers, the Manenti brothers, Crishan Kalugamage and the others. Cricket will be headline news in Italy at least for today. What a win this is for Italy. A win that will be celebrated long into the night on the streets of Milan, Florence, Naples, Tuscany, Rome and other parts of the country. We end our coverage here of this game. We have India v Namibia coming up shortly. See you there. For now it's bye bye.

Harry Manenti | Italy stand-in captain: "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. (on losing Madsen) Yeah, obviously, it hurt us losing our leader and our captain, Wayne, and I hope he's back really soon, but the boys regrouped really well. It was obviously a shock to the system in that fourth over when it happened, and we probably didn't quite nail it from then on and got out of our hand. But the last few days have been good. We're in India at a World Cup. The coaching staff and the support staff have made it clear to enjoy what we're doing here, and we've done that. We enjoy each other's company. We sit down, we have a meal each night together. We spend time with each other on the bus, and I think that's the most important thing for us is being a group. And every team's the same, and they have their own little element, but we've got brothers in our side, and I see it as we've got 15 of them. (spinners did so well) Yeah, definitely. That spin factor was an element. We bowled really well the other day in certain times and it was a different sort of wicket today. We controlled the game really well, managed to take wickets all the way through, which we struggled with a little bit the other day. And our spinners are class. We've seen Ben, we've seen JJ before. Crishan is a young legspinner who hasn't been seen before in the world. And I'd like to think that he's now made his mark on the World Cup and shown what he can do. (on the Mosca brothers) Yeah, the two Mosca boys, I say boys, they're a bit older than me. And I'll probably look at them as older figures. And they look at me as a bit of a kid. But we've played together for a long time. And it's pretty special to be able to watch them dominate on the world stage today. It's been pretty hard for them to continue their pathway in cricket and keep going without that end goal. We finally achieved that with the World Cup. And now to be able to go out there and get a record partnership from brothers that beat Ben and I the other day, but that's fine. But for them to go out there and dominate the game today and to show how good they are, which I've seen before, but the world hasn't. And today, hopefully people appreciate the quality that's in this side. (on England next) Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, England's obviously going to be a tough game. And so is West Indies, Nepal and Scotland are both tough games. We played today in tough conditions that probably would have favoured Nepal. And we found a way to win and hopefully we find a way to challenge England and every team's winnable and beatable on their day."

Rohit Paudel | Nepal captain: "I think Italy outplayed us today and in batting I think we missed out, especially. That was not a 123 wicket. I thought we missed out on that. And it was tough early. Earlier it was tough to bat, but still I think 123 was not the score. We were looking around 160-170 and we batted very poorly and there's no shame to accept that. (what went wrong with the bat?) I thought we didn't respect the conditions. It was tough in the beginning and we played a few rash shots and I think my wicket was the turning point. We had a good partnership, we played well in the powerplay and then when I got out then suddenly things started changing. So I thought that was the turning wicket and we could have done better than that. (how challenging was it to lift the team after the England game?) That was not much testing. I think as a team we are used to that. We have played a lot of cricket and they are experienced. I thought as a team we are growing and to see the England highs and then suddenly not turning up in today's game, I thought that was a little disappointment. A team growing like a team like us, we need to be more consistent and today was the day to prove that, but not taking away the credit from Italy. They played really well today and credit must go to them."

Stats by Shashikant Singh

100-plus opening stand by associate team in T20 WCs
131* - Aqib Ilyas & Jatinder Singh (OMA) vs PNG, 2021
126 - Michael Jones & George Munsey (SCO) vs ITA, 2026
124* - Justin Mosca & Anthony Mosca (ITA) vs NEP, 2026*

10-wicket win for an associate team in T20 WCs
Oman vs PNG, Al Amerat, 2021
ITA vs NEP, Wankhede, 2026*

This is the first 10-wicket win for Italy and the second 10-wicket defeat for Nepal (after vs WI in 2025) in T20Is.

44 balls remaining is the third-most in a successful 120-plus chase in T20 WCs, after 55 for West Indies vs USA (Tar: 129, Bridgetown, 2024) and 50 for England vs Australia (Tar: 126, Dubai, 2021).

Justin Mosca and Anthony Mosca's partnership of 124* runs is the highest between siblings in the T20 World Cups, surpassing Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal's 96-run partnership against Australia in the 2014 edition.

Crishan Kalugamage | Player of the Match: "Thank you so much all the crowd and all my teammates and I'm really happy about the win and I always, always, always want to help to the team to win the match and do my best for my nation, Italy. So I'm happy. (on his bowling) I worked hard with my coaching staff also and I'm really happy with my line and length and took three wickets. So it's a massive moment for me after a lot of sacrifices. Thank my family and all the Italians. They look in the match and all my teammates always. This is my brothers and coaching staff. So I'm really happy. (Then has words in Italian for the fans). È un momento storico per l’Italia, abbiamo aspettato tanto tempo e voglio dire ai ragazzi che stanno iniziando a giocare in clic di non mollare mai. Lavorate duro, alla fine arriverà il risultato. Grazie Italia. [It’s a historic moment for Italy. We have waited a long time, and I want to say to the youngsters who are starting to play cricket: never give up. Work hard - in the end, the results will come. Thank you, Italy."]

17:41 Local Time, 12:11 GMT, 17:41 IST: A red-letter day for the men from Italy. One they will never forget. Famous for their football team they have now come up trumps in cricket and achieved a win at the T20 World Cup. A dream that they will find hard to come out. But this is reality and this is here and now. The Mosca brothers didn't leave a chance to Nepal with their aggressive batting. Yes, the target was not high but they absolutely demolished that in 12.4 overs. Whatever Nepal tried didn't work. Such hard hitting and the sixes flew off the bat from the Mosca brothers. Nepal were riding high from their performance against England which they ideally should've won. But they have been brought crashing down to earth today, on a day when they were favorites to win. Lots of blue in the Wankhede stands with the Italian supporters lapping it all up. By winning so convincingly, Italy boost their NRR heftily. And they are still in with a chance to reach the next round. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...