Feb 12, 2026
3 min read
In Mumbai, in front of thousands of Nepali fans, the Azzurri celebrated their first World Cup with a win
Cricket, Italy in history: it beats Nepal and wins its first match in the World Cup."
In Mumbai, in front of thousands of Nepali fans, the Azzurri played a great match and celebrated their first World Cup victory.
FALL INTO OUR HANDS
MUMBAI (INDIA) - Today, Italian cricket is entering history and finding its place on the sports map.At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India's second city, the Italian team stopped the Nepalese in the first innings, thanks to the performance of Crishan Kalugamage, and punished them in the second innings with an impressive performance by the Mosca brothers, scoring 124 before being dismissed.Italy won by ten wickets, it was a clear victory: the first stage of our national team in the Cricket World Cup, the first victory.
On the way to the stadium, Nepalese fans invaded the seashore singing and dancing: In Nepal, cricket is the most popular sport and thousands of people came to India to support their national team.Blue supporters on the other hand are less, but better.Italy's first captain Alphonse Jayaraja didn't say much after the win against Scotland in Calcutta: « What if we win today?No I know, anything can happen.”…
But more importantly, Kabir Bedi, Sandokan's legendary 1960s filmmaker who now lives in Mumbai but has not forgotten our country or language: "Italian or Indian? My heart is half-hearted. Before I became an actor, I also played cricket."Your next game is against England and you have to win," he concluded.
Before a very strong English team, however, is Nepal, which is anything but an easy opponent.In the world rankings, the Nepalese are ranked 18th, eight places ahead of Italy, and could field a player from the richest Indian Premier League pitcher Sandeep Lamichane in their ranks.
Game: Nepali Azzurri dominated
Italy's bowling and Nepal's batting are the openers of the match.It is clear that the national team is not the same as it was three days ago in Calcutta, against Scotland, when emotion made them play smart.The deployment of Ali Hasan, Ben Manenti, Krishan Kalugamage and JJ Smuts gives no chance to the Nepali batsmen as they fall one after the other.Against Scotland If 126 runs are needed to bat out, there is no need to finish the current one.Nepal ended their attacking innings for just 123 runs.
The second entry begins with the Mosca brothers.AJ and Justin, 34 and 31, grew up in Sydney in a family that emigrated to Australia after the Second World War.Only Italian blood runs through their veins: their paternal grandparents were born and raised in Abruzzo, their maternal grandparents in Calabria.AJ, the eldest, is also a strong Italian stopper and is more technically proficient.he plays cricket part-time, teaches the rest of the time.
Lamichhan and the other Nepalese bowlers did not know the qualities of the Italian-Australian brothers, who let them down after their debut in Kolkata (AJ missed an easy catch, Justin got out on the first ball).Mosca certainly did when he faced 100 innings, scored 124 runs and ended the match after just ten overs.Game, match, match: Italy beat Nepal by ten wickets in a resounding success, claiming their first World Cup victory.
At the end of the match, two Italian-Australian brothers, Ben and Harry Manenti, appeared on the microphone, whose grandparents came from Brescia (their father, John, however, played rugby in Treviso).Manentis grows a few hundred meters from Moscas.Many years later, four boys who visited the Italian community in Sydney and competed in the Australian court, found themselves in the national team, and during the retreat they shared a room (brother and sister in one, brother in the other).
"I come from a big Italian family, my parents have already called to congratulate me," said Harry, who is now captain after Wayne Madsen was injured."Playing in the World Cup with my brother Ben and wearing the blue shirt is something you can't forget. It's the same with Mosca: after the win today, AJ was crying in the dressing room and it shows how much it meant to him to win."
"We are a very united team. Here in India, the bus journeys are short, but we usually spend the travel hours talking, listening to music and drinking beer together," continues the younger Manenti.
