To say the Azzurri has been the flavour of the T20 World Cup won’t be too far from fact. For a nation where football rules hearts, Italy’s cricket team has proven on World Cup debut that they mean business. ADVERTISEMENTItaly have not had much success in the Fifa World Cup in over a decade, but still cricket has a status beyond secondary even after their qualification for the T20 World Cup was confirmed. Playing a sport not popular in the country, Italy certainly needed Italian-origin players to deliver rather than expats doing most of the work. And even if sections of people point out that none in the current squad are born in Italy, Ben believes “team mentality” is what’s more significant.

Source: The Telegraph February 18, 2026 23:31 UTC