It was a case of Nepal being brought back down to earth as they were thrashed in all departments of the game to debutants Italy who made a piece of history of their own. After running England close, a lot was expected from Nepal but they dished out an underwhelming performance and lost the game by 10 wickets in a one-sided game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. There was a lot of broader things that went awry and Nepal were on the back foot throughout. We will try and list out three reasons for Nepal’s embarrassing loss to Italy.
Losing wickets at regular intervals in middle phase and end pushed Nepal to the brink.Â
Italy put Nepal into bat first which many thought from Nepal’s point of view was a blessing in disguise as it was an afternoon game in Mumbai. But Italy had their plans and executed them well. Nepal lost Kushal Bhurtel early inside 2 overs in powerplay but the duo of captain Rohit Paudel and Aasif Sheikh got together and stitched a meaningful partnership of 41 runs as the duo made sure that they do not lose further wickets inside powerplay. They were 46/1 in 6 overs.
Post powerplay though, Nepal lost the plot somewhat and started to lose wickets at regular intervals. Captain Rohit Paudel and Aasif Sheikh fell at the same score to peg Nepal back. But then another partnership got going between Dipendra Singh Airee and Aarif Sheikh. Those two rebuilt things and took Nepal to 93 adding 44 runs for the fourth wicket. At 93/3 in the 14th over, the match looked in the balance as Nepal aimed to maybe get 140-150 from there.
But then another collapse started which carried on till the end phase. Airee got out at score of 93 while Lokesh Bam the hero of last game and keeper batter got out 3 runs later. Aarif Sheikh too fell as Nepal were reduced to 100/6. Gulshan Jha and Nandan Yadav too fell quickly as they became 102/8 in the 17th over. Karan KC added some runs to the score before the last two wickets of Sandeep Lamichhane and Lalit Rajbanshi fell at 123 and they were bowled out.
Nepal were clueless against spin and played some bad shots that really hurt them and they were just not there switched on. The Italians had a plan and they executed it. It was a meek surrender. Nepal will have to erase this game quickly and start fresh by focussing on shot selections and how to play spin as well. This defeat will hurt Nepal a lot while Italy will be and are jubilant at this stage.
Failure to take a single wicket while defending score exposes Nepal.Â
It is true that Nepal posted a very below par score as 123 was never going to be enough on that surface. But we also expected them to fight and make a match out of it by putting pressure on Italy as they were the debutants of the tournament. Nepal had quality spinners in their ranks and with Italy getting him with spin, we expected Nepal to have the same effect.
But what followed was a disaster as the Mosca brothers Justin and Anthony dominated the bowling and did not give any chance to the Nepal players. Both for the first few balls played themselves in and they could afford to do that but then they accelerated to take the game away from the opposition. There were tactical blunders from captain Rohit Paudel as in the powerplay overs, he went with a set pattern and introduced pace bowlers to the batters of Italy. By the time he went to spin, the batters were set and spin could not make any impact.
The fact that Nepal could not even take a single wicket shows where they belong and how they were outplayed by a determined Italy side. Going forward, Nepal will have to find the incisiveness in bowling and bowl with discipline by trying to take wickets so that the game can be a close one. Nepal may well have lost this game anyways but the fight that we saw so well against England was missing big time.
Inability to play spinners like Crishan Kalugamage and Ben Manenti hurts Nepal.Â
One glaring aspect that came through in Mumbai was the spinners ruling the roost especially in afternoon game on a used track. The Italian spinners came out all guns blazing and literally strangulated Nepal. Nepal played injudicious shots and paid the price in the end. But their inability to play the spinners in middle phase was the point that stood out for all of us following the game. Nepal did decently despite losing only a wicket in powerplay but things unravelled soon after.
Crishan Kalugamage came onto the attack and he was the main difference between the two teams. He spun a web around Nepalese batters and got wickets at regular intervals. Nepal had no clue what Crishan was delivering and they lost wickets to him by going after him as the Sri Lankan national picked up 3/18 in 4 overs. But he was not alone. He was ably supported but Ben Manenti who bowled an over in powerplay but came back and kept the runs down apart from picking up 2 wickets as well for 9 runs.
The off-spinner bowled well and troubled Nepal throughout. Even JJ Smuts got a wicket and finished with 1/22 in 4 overs. The spinners of Italy dominated the Nepal batters who seemed not to have plan B, or Plan C with them. The spinners of Italy ruled the roost while Nepal did not get a wicket either. Nepal has two games left against West Indies and Scotland where they have to forget this day and start afresh but also work on areas that is going totally wrong for them.
What Lies Ahead.Â
So, Italy with this buoyant win will have games remaining against West Indies and England. They face West Indies on Sunday. Nepal has two games left against West Indies and Scotland with their hopes all but dashed as far as Super 8s are concerned. More action coming your way in ICC T20 WC 2026. First up its. Australia vs Zimbabwe live from Premadasa Stadium in Colombo at 11 AM IST weather permitting. This will be followed by Canada vs UAE live from New Delhi at 3 PM IST. The last game of the day features USA vs Netherlands live from Chennai at 7 PM IST. It’s a day for the Associates in the World Cup on Friday.
Let’s see how things unfold in these three fixtures on Day 7 of the tournament.
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