Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Both Nepal and Italy will be looking to earn their first points when they meet on Thursday afternoon in the Group C fixture of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Mumbai.
The two sides have never met in a T20I before. They, however, faced three times in the one-day format, with Nepal winning all three fixtures.
Nepal, which suffered a narrow four-run defeat to mighty England, will look to bring that same brand of fearless cricket in Mumbai again. They have the edge against Italy, who are playing their maiden T20 World Cup.
A win against Italy will revive Nepal’s hopes of entering the Super Eight before they take on the West Indies, especially after the Caribbean side defeated England on Wednesday evening. Nepal won a three-match T20I series against West Indies 2-1 in Dubai last year.
Italy suffered a 73-run defeat against Scotland in their opening match of the T20 World Cup. Captain Wayne Madsen, who was injured in the match, will not play against Nepal.
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel said in the pre-match press conference that Nepal’s fighting performance has boosted the team’s confidence despite the defeat against England. “Italy are a good team, and they have been playing good cricket in recent times. We have our own plans and we want to execute them on the field in the match against Italy,” he said.
Italy Captain Wayne Madsen, on the other hand, said they were confident about beating Nepal. “We defeated the UAE, a team ranked higher than Nepal, with an excellent performance in the warm-up match. So we are confident of beating Nepal as well,” he said.
Both Nepal and Italy secured comfortable victories in their respective warm-up games.
Italy
Wayne Madsen (C), Marcus Campopiano, Gian Piero Meade, Zain Ali, Ali Hasan, Crishan Jorge, Harry Manenti, Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, Syed Naqvi, Benjamin Manenti, Jaspreet Singh, JJ Smuts, Grant Stewart, Thomas Draca.
Nepal
Rohit Paudel (C), Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Sundeep Jora, Aarif Sheikh, Basir Ahamad, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Nandan Yadav, Gulshan Jha, Lalit Rajbanshi, Sher Malla, Lokesh Bam.
