Mumbai, Feb 12 (IANS) Crishan Kalugamage picked three crucial wickets as Italy bowled out Nepal for just 123 runs in 19.3 overs in their second match of the T20 World Cup 2026 played at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
Coming to bat after losing the toss, Nepal were off to a bad start as their top batter, Kushal Bhurtal, who was struggling to get runs from the start, got out in the second over, scoring just five runs off the ten balls he played.
After a poor start, skipper Rohit Paudel and Aasif Sheikh forged a 41-run partnership off just 30 balls to take Nepal’s score to 46 at the end of the powerplay.
Italy finally made the comeback just after the power play as they dismissed both the batters in a span of three balls. Rohit scored 23 runs off just 14 balls before edging out Crishan Kalugamage in the last ball of the seventh over, while Aasif scored 26 runs off 21 balls before being sent to the pavilion by Ben Manenti in the next over.
After the double blow, Dipendra Singh Airee and Aarif Sheikh built a 41-run partnership to take the team ahead. The duo didn’t take any risks at the start as they focused on singles and doubles to put pressure on the opposition. As they decided to break through by hitting the boundary, Italy again made a comeback with the wickets of Dipendra and last match hero Lokesh in the span of just five balls.
Dipendra scored 17 runs off 18 balls, while Lokesh managed to hit just three runs. Aarif helped the team cross the 100-run barrier but got out just after the team reached the three-figure mark. He scored 27 runs off 24 balls and hammered three boundaries. Karan KC scored an unbeaten 18 runs off just 11 balls but could not finish the innings as the team got all out with three balls remaining.
For Italy, Kalugamage was the most successful bowler, as he took three wickets while giving out just 18 runs. Ben Manenti also took two wickets in four overs. JJ Smuts, Ali Hasan and Jaspreet Singh also got one wicket each.
Brief scores: Nepal all out for 123 in 19.3 overs (Aasif Sheikh 27, Rohit Paudal 23; Crishan Kalugamage 3-18, Ben Manenti 2-9) against Italy.
–IANS
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