Thu Feb 19 ’26 by KRISSANIA YOUNG
Forde’s new performances back up Hope’s 75 as Windies win in Group C
West Indies 165 for 5 (Hope 75, Rutherford 24*; Kalugamage 2-25) defeated Italy 123 all out (Manenti 26, Smuts 24; Forde 3-19) by 42 runs
West Indies finished top of Group C of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with a perfect four wins from four after a 42-run victory over Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. A captain’s knock from Shai Hope took the Caribbean side to a defendable total, before a tone-setting new-ball spell from Matthew Forde.
West Indies lost the wickets of Brandon King and Shimron Hetmyer early in their innings. Ali Hasan ended King’s six-ball stay and continued his sluggish tournament. The right-hander hit an inside edge through to the keeper for 4 in the second over. Hetmyer (1) was then caught off a flying edge at short third to start the 5th with West Indies 31 for 2. At the other end, Shai Hope had picked up where he left off against Nepal, timing the ball all over the ground.
He was joined by Roston Chase, and the two shared a 64-run (50-ball) stand for the third wicket. Chase limped his way to 24 off 25 before being caught in the deep when trying to accelerate in the 13th, leaving the West Indies 95 for 3.
Chase’s wicket was the first of three the West Indies lost in a 17-ball spell in which they scored 20 runs, after Rovman Powell was dismissed for a run-a-ball 9, followed by Hope, who fell for an innings-shaping 46-ball 75.
After being 115 for 5 at the start of the 16th, West Indies managed 50 runs from the last 29 balls of the innings, thanks to unbeaten knocks from Sherfane Rutherford and Matthew Forde. Rutherford (24 off 15) and Forde (16 off 8) added 19 runs from Grant Stewart’s 19th to help push West Indies to 165 for 6 of their allotment.
Hope’s side took three early wickets to start their defence, restricting Italy to 37 for 3 at the end of the powerplay. Forde shaved Justin Mosca’s off-stump for two in the 2nd over before Akeal Hosein responded to the two maximums from his bowling in the 3rd with the wicket of the other Anthony brother, Mosca, for 19. Forde (3/19) closed the phase with the wicket of Syed Naqvi for 6.
West Indies continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals, allowing just 64 runs (7.1 rpo) in the next nine overs. They picked up three more scalps in the period to restrict Italy to 104 for 6 at the end of the 15th. The Caribbean side confirmed a convincing victory in 18 overs, dismissing the European team for 123.
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