Kolkata, Feb 16 (IANS) Italy captain Harry Manenti took immense pride in his team’s fighting display despite their 24-run defeat to England in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Group C clash at the Eden Gardens, saying the associate side showed they could challenge the world’s best.

“We always knew that England were going to come hard, and that’s why they play their cricket, and it’s entertaining. But we knew if we could try and take wickets throughout the start of that game, we’re always in it for the middle and the back end,” Manenti said during the post-match presentation.

England eventually posted 202/7, with Will Jacks anchoring the innings, and Manenti acknowledged the England batter’s role in ensuring his side got a competitive total as he said, “He batted excellently and showed that when you take it deep, when you’ve got that power in the middle, that anything can happen really.”

He added that Italy were aware of the challenge of containing a powerful England batting line-up on a good surface and felt that while England pushed ahead, the target was still within reach.

“But we were trying to do our best on a smallish field on a good wicket against a really good line-up to try and minimise their total where we could, and we knew that wickets at the front end would hopefully do that. As you can see, 200 wasn’t that far above par today, but yeah, we probably let them get a few too many with those in the chase,” he said.

Italy’s reply was headlined by a stunning counterattack from Ben Manenti and a late flourish from Grant Stewart, both of whom earned special praise from the captain and also highlighted the importance of partnerships in giving Italy a chance.

“Yeah, that was an impressive inning. We lost a few early and for him to come out and just strike the ball from the get-go, really put the pressure on England. And if you see that towards the back end, Grant Stewart did the same thing when he came out. And it shows that when you get a little partnership together and put some pressure on, then anything can happen,” he stated.

Manenti emphasised that Italy’s performances in the tournament had shown their growing competitiveness, adding that competing strongly against higher-ranked teams was a major confidence booster.

“A lot of these 39s, we’ve had some pressure on some big nations and that’s really exciting from the game’s point of view. One of the top-ranked teams in the world for us, we’re ranked 27th. To be coming out here and putting pressure on them is something that we should take great belief in that we can keep doing that moving forward.”

Manenti reserved heartfelt praise for Ben Manenti’s all-round contribution and Stewart’s fearless hitting, saying, “Firstly, I was proud of him. I’ve seen how hard he works, especially on his batting as well, which probably doesn’t get as much of a look in. And tonight he got an opportunity to show the world how good he is with the bat.”

He added, “The same thing with Grant Stewart at the end. Like, he’s a lower-order batter usually in the county system and for him to come out tonight and show what his tackles are doing is proud for me as captain.”

Looking ahead, Manenti made it clear that Italy would continue to play without fear and signed off with a confident message about their intent moving forward.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. We came in today thinking the same thing. It’s up to us to try and go and compete again and really push them to the limits, and I think that’s our aim across the whole competition,” he concluded.

–IANS

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