Nepal bowled out for 123 by Italy:Crishan Kalugamage leads stellar bowling effort for T20 WC debutants

Crishan Kalugamage took three wickets as Italy bowled out Nepal for just 123 runs in their T20 World Cup Group C match at the Wankhede Stadium, on 12 February. Rohit Paudel and his men are pushed on the backfoot and their bowlers will need to step up for their first win of the tournament. Apart from Kalugamage, Ben Manenti took two wickets while conceding nine runs in four overs. Ali Hasan, JJ Smuts and Jaspreet Singh took one wicket each. Nepal’s batting flops against T20 World Cup debutants Opting to bowl first proved to be the correct decision for Italy as their bowlers squeezed the flow of runs. After almost stunning England with a spirited bowling performance, Nepal’s batting order struggled big time against the T20 World Cup newcomers. Aarif Sheikh was Nepal’s highest scorer with 27 runs off 24 deliveries. Captain Paudel struck 23 runs off 14 deliveries while Aasif Sheikh (20) and Karan KC (18) made contributions. Italy need 124 runs to beat Nepal for their first-ever T20 World Cup win. Nepal, Italy lost campaign openers Both Nepal and Italy lost their respective campaign openers. While Nepal lost to England, falling agonisingly short by four runs, Italy were handed a thrashing defeat by Scotland.