Wankhede Stadium was not prepared for this, and neither were the fans or the tournament itself, as Italy, making their debut in the World Cup, triumphed over Nepal by 10 wickets. It was Italy's first-ever win in a World Cup match. They started their campaign against Scotland, and the match by a big margin, but came back like heroes in the very next match by defeating Nepal.
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Nepal had a very good outing so far, but their joyful winning ride stopped when Italy's openers out-batted Nepal's bowlers by chasing the target of 124 runs in just 12.4 overs.
Match summary
Winning the toss, Italy opted to field first in the afternoon game, as it was a battle of associate nations; the excitement was less on the fourth day of the week. In the last match, Nepal was on the brink of causing an upset, but England's batters somehow saved that, coming with a great rhythm. Nepal's brigade was looking confident and steadily started their innings. Nepal ended the power play with 46 runs. Things changed just after that when Rohit Paudel departed. For Nepal, Dipendra Singh and Aarif Sheikh formed a slow but steady partnership of 44 runs in 39 balls. A series of wickets started falling, and Nepal was only able to take their innings to 123 runs, losing wickets in 19. 3 overs. For Italy, Crishan Kalugamage remained one of the key bowlers who took the driver's seat of the bowling department and picked three wickets to demolish Nepal.
As the momentum was with Italy, they capitalised on that; maximising the powerplay, the openers posted 68 runs on board. Nepal was already under pressure, and fast-moving runs shifted all the moment towards Italy. Opener Justin Mosca and Anthony Mosca hammered a blistering 124-run partnership to lead Italy to their very first win in a major ICC event.
Italy captain's remarks
Asking the Italy captain how it felt after winning the very first match in this big stage, he replied in the post-match presentation, “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.”
Adding to that, he also said, “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.”
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They will take on the field against England on February 16 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
