Kolkata, February 16 – Italy captain Harry Manenti expressed immense pride in his team's fighting display despite their 24-run defeat to England in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup Group C match at Eden Gardens, saying the associate side had shown they could challenge the world's best.
“We always knew that England were going to be a tough opponent, and that's why they play the way they do, and it's entertaining. But we knew that if we could try and take wickets throughout the early part of the game, we would always be in contention,” Manenti said during the post-match presentation.
England eventually posted 202/7, with Will Jacks anchoring the innings, and Manenti acknowledged the England batter's role in ensuring his side got a competitive total, saying, "He played excellently and showed that when you take it deep, when you have that power in the middle, anything can happen."
He added that Italy was aware of the challenge of containing a powerful England batting lineup on a good surface and felt that while England had taken the lead, the target was still within reach.
“But we were trying our best on a smaller field on a good wicket against a really strong team to try and minimize their total as much as possible, and we knew that wickets at the start would hopefully help us do that. As you can see, 200 wasn't that far off today, but yeah, we probably let them get a few too many in the chase,” he said.
Italy's response was headlined by a stunning counter-attack from Ben Manenti and a late flourish from Grant Stewart, both of whom earned special praise from the captain, and also highlighted the importance of partnerships in giving Italy a chance.
"Yeah, that was an impressive innings. We lost a few early wickets, and for him to come out and just hit the ball from the start, really put pressure on England. And if you look at the back end, Grant Stewart did the same thing when he came out. And that shows that when you get a good partnership going and put some pressure on, then anything can happen," he stated.
Manenti emphasised that Italy's performances in the tournament had shown their growing competitiveness, adding that competing strongly against higher-ranked teams was a major confidence booster.
“We've had some great matches against some big nations, and that's really exciting from the game's point of view. One of the top-ranked teams in the world is us, we're ranked 27th. To be coming out here and putting pressure on them is something that we should take great belief in that we can keep doing that moving forward.”
Manenti reserved heartfelt praise for Ben Manenti's all-round contribution and Stewart's fearless hitting, saying, “Firstly, I was proud of him. I've seen how hard he works, especially on his batting, which probably doesn't get as much attention. And tonight, he got an opportunity to show the world how good he is with the bat.”
He added, “The same thing with Grant Stewart at the end. He's usually a lower-order batter in the county system, and for him to come out tonight and show what he can do is something that makes me proud as captain.”
Looking ahead, Manenti made it clear that Italy would continue to play without fear and concluded with a confident message about their intent moving forward.
“We've got nothing to lose. We came in today thinking the same thing. It's up to us to try and compete again and really push them to the limits, and I think that's our aim across the whole competition,” he concluded.
