In only their second World Cup outing, Italy claimed a clinical first win, silencing a largely Nepal supporting crowd in Mumbai. After the bowlers restricted Nepal effectively on a worn surface, Italy’s opening pair, the Sydney-raised brothers, Justin and Anthony Mosca, then rampaged to the target on their own, both notching half-centuries to seal victory with more than seven overs to spare.

Nepal, having run England so close in their opening match, came in as the favoured side – in terms of both their pedigree at global events and the backing in the stands. But they struggled to get going with the bat after being inserted, with Aasif Sheikh’s 27 off 24 the top score of an underpowered effort. Italy’s spin attack were superb, Crishan Kalugamage , Ben Meneti and JJ Smuts claiming combined figures of 6 for 49 from their 12 overs.

Needing to score at little more than a run a ball, Italy were in no mood to get bogged down. Anthony Mosca hammered his second ball for a towering six over midwicket and, after a slower start, Justin soon joined his brother in targeting the boundary. Justin was the first to 50, from 37 balls, with Anthony bringing up the milestone from just 28 balls with another blazing slog-sweep moments later. It was Anthony who completed the Italian job with a single into the covers to spark jubilation on the sidelines.

The Wankhede is used to dominant displays from a team in blue, but few would have expected such a thrashing to be handed out by the Azzurri. Not least because they came into this match without their captain, Wayne Madsen, and having suffered a heavy defeat to Scotland in their opening match in Kolkata. Nepal, meanwhile, we looking to record their third win in T20 World Cups – and first since 2014.

Given their strengths, Nepal might have fancied their chances defending a low total on the same surface where spin played such a key role in Wednesday’s game between West Indies and England – but any such thoughts were quickly dispelled. Anthony Mosca, the elder brother, was particularly brutal in taking apart an experienced Nepal attack, while both openers used the crease intelligently to target scoring opportunities.

Having needed a few balls to get in, Justin Mosca took 14 off Karan KC’s second over, then the brothers traded sixes off Lalit Rajbanshi’s only over to raise Italy’s 50 at the end of the fourth over. Even the early introduction of Nepal’s trump card, legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane, could not slow the Moscas’ advance, as Anthony cleared long-off and then dragged past short fine leg to leave Italy 68 for 0 at the end of the powerplay.

From there, with 56 required off 84, they could tick along towards individual milestones – and by reaching the target in tandem, they recorded the highest partnership between siblings in all T20 internationals, beating the 119 added by Kathryn and Sarah Bryce for Scotland against Netherlands at the 2019 Women’s T20 World Cup qualifier.

Italy’s victory was a family affair, with Harry Manenti – younger brother of Ben – standing in for the injured Madsen as captain. “Our goal was always to compete at this level,” Harry said afterwards. “We didn’t quite nail it the other day [against Scotland] but we showed the world what we’ve got.”

T20 isn’t the format that naturally lends itself to catenaccio – the famed Italian approach to football which is focused on defence – but Italy went about restricting Nepal superbly after opting to bowl first. The surface was the same as that used for West Indies’ win over England the night before, and stroke-making looked to be a challenge as Ben Manenti started with a maiden over to Kushal Bhurtel.

Bhurtel took eight balls to get off the mark, found the boundary with his ninth and then was dismissed from his tenth, miscuing a slash off Ali Hasan straight to cover point. Nepal were 10 for 1 after three overs, but got going with Aasif Sheikh picking up back-to-back boundaries in Hasan’s second over. Paudel then got the crowd on their feet with sixes off JJ Smuts and Grant Stewart, as they ended the powerplay in better shape on 46 for 1.

However, Italy returned to spin and reapplied the defensive press. Paudel was dismissed in Crishan Kalugamage’s first over, hoicking a googly to long-on, and two balls later both set batters were gone: Aasif Sheikh overbalanced against Manenti’s arm ball, leaving his toe on the line as Gian-Piero Meade whipped off the bails.

A hard-running partnership of 44 off 39 ensued between Aarif Sheikh and Dipendra Singh Airee. Just three boundaries were scored between the end of the powerplay and the fifth ball of the 18th over as Nepal scrambled to get a score on the board. Airee had helped take down Adil Rashid as they gave England a scare, but he struggled for timing this time around before being bowled by Italy’s legspinner, Kalugamage smuggling a googly through the gap to hit off stump.

That triggered a disastrous collapse, from 93 for 3 to 102 for 8. Lokesh Bam hauled Ben Manenti to deep midwicket, Aarif Sheikh picked out deep backward square leg off Smuts and Kalugamage bagged a third when Gulsan Jha holed out to long-on. Some shoddy running did for Nandan Yadav. Karan KC nailed the returning Hasan for six and four to briefly re-energise the Nepali support in the stands, but two wickets in three balls at the start of the 19th saw them bowled out short of their allocation.

Brief scores:
Italy 124 for 0 in 12.4 overs  (Anthony Mosca 62*, Justin Mosca 60*) beat Nepal 123 in 19.3 overs (Aasif Sheikh 20, Rohit Paudel 23, Dipendra Singh Airee 17, Aarif Sheikh 27, Karan KC 18; Ben Manenti 2-09, Ali Hasan 1-34,JJ Smuts 1-22, Crishan Kalugamage 3-18, Jasprit Singh 1-08) by 10 wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka’a powerful middle order blew Oman away in Pallekele, helping them sweep to a 105-run win. In perhaps the most one-sided game of the T20 World Cup so far, Dasun Shanaka struck Sri Lanka’s fastest ever T20I half-century, in 19 balls, while a 28-ball 60 from Pavan Rathnayake and 61 by Kusal Mendis propelled Sri Lanka to 225, this World Cup’s highest score and Sri Lanka’s second-highest in T20 World Cups.

Oman did strike early when Jay Odedra cleaned up Kamil Mishara, but the wickets they took never stymied the flow of runs. Pathum Nissanka was trapped up front off the first ball of the sixth over by Sufyan Mehmood, but it still went for 16. And the middle overs saw Mendis ensure the run rate only ever kept rising. The fireworks from Rathnayake and Shanaka in the second half of the innings powered Sri Lanka well beyond Oman’s batting capabilities.

The total was never likely to be challenged, and while Oman tried damage limitation, even that was less than successful. Dushmantha Chameera cleaned up Jatinder Singh first ball, and Oman went on to lose two more wickets in a powerplay where only 36 runs were scored.  Maheesh Theekshana was sensational throughout his four-over spell, conceding just 11 runs, and made the task much easier for his fellow bowlers. Much of what followed was both sides largely going through the motions. Oman limped to 120, largely thanks to Mohammad Nadeem’s half-century – which makes him the oldest half-centurion at a men’s T20 World Cup. But it was little more than a footnote as Sri Lanka romped to victory in Pallekele’s first match at this World Cup.

In the overs when a bowling side might generally be expected to rein in the scoring, Oman’s disciplines wavered, and Sri Lanka made them pay. The three overs after the powerplay produced just 21 for Sri Lanka, but as Wasim Ali was wrapping up another tidy over, he overstepped, and then overstepped on the free-hit ball again. The over ended up leaking 17, and kicked off a four-over spell where 54 runs were scored. It set up the perfect platform for Rathnayake and Shanaka to exploit at the death.

By the 15th over, Sri Lanka were on course for a total beyond Oman’s reach, but the carnage was only just starting. Shanaka had made a sedate start, with seven in his first seven balls, but would need just 12 more to get to 50, beating his own Sri Lankan record for the fastest T20I half-century. It began with a six and a four off Jiten Ramanandi before Nadeem Khan was carted around for a 20-run over, and Sufyan for 19 more. The last five overs fetched the hosts 79, comfortably the highest at the death at this World Cup.

His wicket-taking days weren’t done, though, and he demonstrated a willingness to come on anytime the batters clawed the slightest momentum back. Dushan Hemantha was hit for two sixes in the 11th by Wasim Ali, and Theekshana was straight back on, and had Wasim caught behind before the over was out. He rounded out his spell with a miserly one-run over, finishing with 2 for 11, comfortably the most economical four-over spell this World Cup.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 225 for 5 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 13, Kusal Mendis 61, Pavan Rathnayake 60, Dasun Shanaka 50, Kamindu Mendis 19-; Jay Odedra 1-14, Sufiyan Mahmood 1-60. Jiten  Ramanandi 2-41) beat Oman 120 for 9 in 20 overs  (Mohammad Nadeem 53*, Wasim Ali 27; Maheesh Theekshana 2-11, Dushmantha Chameera 2-19, Dunith Wellalage 2-17, Dushan Hemantha 1-45, Kamindu Mendis 1-10) by 105 runs

[Cricinfo]