Kolkata, February 19 – Italy won the toss and chose to bowl against the West Indies in their final group stage match of the 2026 T20 World Cup, which was held at the Eden Gardens Stadium on Thursday.
After winning the toss, Italy captain Harry Manenti said, "We're going to bowl today. There's some movement in the pitch early on, and hopefully, we can use that to our advantage and take some early wickets. We're confident after our last game against England, against a really strong team."
"Obviously, we're playing against the West Indies today, who are another very strong team and have had success in this format for a long time. So, we're looking forward to the challenge and hopefully, we can step up and really compete with them today. It's a key focus for us, ever since Scotland, to try and take wickets in the early part of the game and also to conserve our resources, as we did in Nepal. So, if we can do that today, hopefully, it will be a good step towards having a successful game and winning," he added.
West Indies captain Shai Hope said, "Well, it's not my decision, but yes, we have to set the tone this time around. The strategy is still in place. It's important for us to make sure we maintain that mindset that we want to project. We need to ensure that any changes we make as a team, are in line with the cricket we want to play going into this phase. No changes."
Playing XIs:
West Indies: Brandon King, Shai Hope (wk/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph
Italy: Justin Mosca, Anthony Mosca, Syed Naqvi, JJ Smuts, Harry Manenti (c), Ben Manenti, Grant Stewart, Gian Meade (wk), Crishan Kalugamage, Thomas Draca, Ali Hasan
