Mumbai, Feb 12 (NationPress) Italy has emerged victorious in the toss and has chosen to bat against Nepal in their second encounter of the 2026 T20 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. Due to injury, Italy's captain, Wayne Madsen, will not be participating in this match; Harry Manenti is taking the helm as captain.

Following the toss, Italy's stand-in captain Manenti mentioned, "Today we’ll bowl. There were certainly some nerves, like in any international cricket match. Unfortunately, things didn't go our way today. Losing our skipper, Wayne Madsen, was perhaps a pivotal moment, and we struggled to regain momentum during a critical phase of the game. Scotland is a formidable team, and today we face another strong opponent in Nepal, so we’re eagerly anticipating this challenge. Wayne has contributed significantly to Italian cricket, and I’m excited to see how the team performs without him."

He continued, "Our primary focus has been on courage. We are up against teams ranked higher than us globally, and from an external perspective, we appear to be the underdogs. However, we have a strong belief in our capabilities within our squad. We aim to be bold and take the initiative, and we hope to showcase that today. Italian cricket has come a long way since the past."

On the other hand, Nepal's captain Rohit Paudel stated, "Honestly, we would have preferred to bowl. The toss is beyond our control. We will leverage the opportunity to bat first. This is the same pitch where our last match took place, and it should favor spin in the second innings, so we plan to capitalize on that. Competing in Asian conditions here at the Wankhede is advantageous for us, and we aim to utilize it effectively."

He further emphasized, "We recognized that both our batting and bowling departments need improvement from the previous match. The last three to four overs are crucial for us. We need to maintain our composure, manage the pressure, and be focused during those moments. Having supportive fans motivates us immensely; after our match against England, we saw numerous social media posts from viewers in Nepal cheering us on live. This provides great encouragement to our team."

Playing XIs:

Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Rohit Paudel (c), Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Lokesh Bam, Gulsan Jha, Karan KC, Nandan Yadav, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi

Italy: Anthony Mosca, Justin Mosca, JJ Smuts, Harry Manenti (c), Ben Manenti, Marcus Campopiano, Grant Stewart, Gian Meade (wk), Jaspreet Singh, Crishan Kalugamage, Ali Hasan.