West Indies, only the third unbeaten team in this edition of the T20 World Cup alongside India and South Africa, were expected to brush debutants Italy aside, more so after being sent out to bat first on a batting-friendly surface at the Eden Gardens. But their batting lineup, except captain Shai Hope, who scored a brisk 75, failed to fire against a resilient Italian bowling attack. The West Indies bowlers, however, saved them the blushes by masterminding a 42-run victory as Italy’s first World Cup ended with just a lone win and a lot of what ifs. The Hope-led outfit was rocked early as Brandon King was sent back in the second over by Ali Hasan for just 4 runs. Such was the accuracy of the Italian bowling that West Indies took three overs to get their first boundary of the match which came off the willow of Hope who carved Thomas Draca for a four. That was followed by another as he cleared the infield easily to mine Draca for 10 runs in the over. That opened the floodgates of sorts as Hope slammed two fours and a maximum off the 4th over but had to see his strike partner Shimron Hetmyer depart for just one run, snapped up by Draca. Hope, however, continued to chip in with boundaries, accumulating 12 from the fifth over with the Windies reaching 48/2 after powerplay. Hope would give the same treatment to Ben Manenti, slapping him for a flat six which brought up West Indies’ team fifty in the 7th over and then followed it up with a half century of his own in 28 deliveries. At the other end, however, Roston Chase struggled to accelerate, taking 16 deliveries to hit his first boundary. While Italy negated Chase, they struggled to rein in Hope as the Windies captain continued with his merry ways, helping his team get to 100 runs in the 14th over with a maximum. Chase’s struggles would end before Windies reached the three figures as he holed out to Anthony Mosca in the deep off Ben. Rovman Powell, in at No.5, didn’t last long either, falling to Ben for just 9. Hope’s vigil was also snuffed out by Crishan Kalugamage who castled the Windies opener for 75. After that, Sherfane Rutherford with Matthew Forde in tow, chipped in with 24 and 16 respectively to help the Windies post a respectable 165/6. Anthony and Justin, the Mosca brothers, needed to get Italy off to a decent start in a tricky chase but the latter couldn’t follow up on his gritty 43 versus England, getting cleaned up for just two runs by Matthew Forde. Anthony, meanwhile, slammed two sixes off Akeal Hosein only to fall to the spinner in the same over for 19. With the Windies tightening the screws, the pressure paid off soon as Syed Naqvi, looking to accelerate, got his shot all wrong and gave a dolly to Shamar Joseph with Italy managing to reach 37/3 after powerplay.Story continues below this ad Joseph struck with the ball next, sending back captain Harry Manenti for 8 as Italy lost 4 wickets for 57. JJ Smuts, who looked assured in the middle for his 24, was the next man to depart as he fell to Gudakesh Motie. The Italians ultimately got to their 100 in the 15th over, courtesy of back to back boundaries by Ben, the younger Manenti brother. However, Italy’s troubles were compounded when Grant Stewart, who helped them almost pull off an upset in the last match, was sent back for just 12 this time around by Joseph. Ben went back soon for 26 as Motie snapped up his second wicket as Italy sunk further into the mire. Forde grabbed his third scalp as Gian Meade slashed right into the mitts of the fielder while Joseph completed his 4-wicket haul, snapping up Draca and Hasan for 5 and 0 respectively.
T20 World Cup: Despite batsmen not firing on all cylinders, bowlers deliver as West Indies beat Italy to maintain all-win record
