Kolkata, Feb 16 (IANS) England won the toss and elected to bat against Italy at the iconic Eden Gardens in their Group C encounter of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Monday.

England steadied their campaign by defeating Scotland, lifting themselves to second place after earlier struggles, including a defeat to the West Indies and a testing game against Nepal. While their latest win showed improved composure, particularly during the chase, concerns remain around their top-order stability.

Italy, meanwhile, arrive with growing belief after securing a landmark victory over Nepal, bouncing back strongly from a difficult start. Their disciplined bowling and confident batting reflected a side beginning to adapt to the demands of this level.

This match presents a tougher examination, but Italy will aim to build on their momentum. For England, it is a chance to consolidate their standing; for Italy, another opportunity to challenge expectations and continue their upward progress.

Winning the toss, England captain Harry Brook said, “We’re going to have a bat today. We feel like it’s the right decision. There isn’t much in it stat-wise, so yeah, we just have to have a bat today. I think in our case, the bat especially being fearless, looking to take it to the opposition and put them under pressure and thinking about the result rather than the risk… Same team. I think everybody knows that we haven’t, but we’ve managed to scrape through in a couple of games, which has been vital. So yeah, hopefully we can have a good performance today.”

Meanwhile, Italy skipper Harry Manenti said, “We were going to bowl anyway, so it works nicely. We were tossing and turning what to do; it was nice I didn’t have to make the decision. Coming of the win gives us the confidence. We came into the tournament confident. We are unchanged. Wayno is tracking well, he is not going to be ready today, will try in a few days time.”

Playing XIs:

England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

Italy: Justin Mosca, Anthony Mosca, JJ Smuts, Harry Manenti (c), Ben Manenti, Marcus Campopiano, Grant Stewart, Gian Meade (wk), Jaspreet Singh, Crishan Kalugamage, Ali Hasan

–IANS

vi/bc