Italy’s bowlers have put the West Indies under pressure in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, reducing the side to 137 for 6 after 17.4 overs on Thursday, February 19, 2026.
The West Indies, having already qualified for the Super 8s with wins over Scotland, England, and Nepal, are using the match against Italy to fine-tune their skills before facing India, South Africa, and Zimbabwe in the next stage of the tournament. Italy, meanwhile, are looking to build on their upset victory over Nepal and a near-miss against England.
While the West Indies have appeared dominant throughout the group stage, concerns remain about their batting consistency. They posted 184 for 7 against Nepal, were bowled out for 166 by the West Indies, and experienced a wobble while chasing 153 against Scotland. A recurring theme has been the inability of batters to convert promising starts into substantial scores.
English batsmen have reached 25 runs 14 times in the tournament – the most of any team – but only four of those innings have been extended to half-centuries. No England player has yet reached a score above 75. Will Jacks dismissed the idea that this is a matter of individual responsibility, stating, “Responsibility in T20 can be misunderstood. Sometimes the responsibility is to try and hit 30 off the over.”
Jos Buttler, speaking after the match against Scotland, suggested that the influence of The Hundred, a shorter-format domestic competition, may be contributing to the issue. “There’s more emphasis on the first 10 overs now, so if you lose wickets in those first 10 overs then it makes it harder towards the end, but you still need to keep going,” he said. “I used to always worry more about the second 10 overs, so it was about setting things up and then being able to get to that 180 or 190-mark, if the score and wicket dictated it.”
Buttler continued, “A lot of these players are playing in The Hundred which is less balls, meaning you have to keep going earlier, and it doesn’t really teach you to soak up the pressure for an over or two.”
In the current match against Italy, Brandon King top-scored for the West Indies with 46 runs, while Shai Hope, the captain, contributed 75. However, a middle-order collapse saw Roston Chase, Rovman Powell, and Hope all fall within a short space of time, leaving Sherfane Rutherford and Jason Holder to rebuild the innings. Crishan Kalugamage was the most successful bowler for Italy, taking 2 wickets for 24 runs.
The match continues with Italy set to start their reply.
