Kolkata: Skipper Shai Hope’s second consecutive fifty and a disciplined performance by bowlers powered West Indies to a comfortable 42-run victory over Italy, ensuring that the Caribbeans finished their group stage campaign unbeaten in the T20 World Cup here on Thursday.
Despite a shaky batting performance, the Caribbean pace and spin attack clicked in unison, ensuring a winning momentum heading into the Super Eights from Group C.
Set a target of 166, Italy were bowled out for 123 in 18 overs with Matthew Forde (3/19), Shamar Joseph (4/30) and Gudakesh Motie (2/24) doing the bulk of the damage with the ball for West Indies.
Skipper Hope slammed a 46-ball 75 to guide West Indies to 165/6 after Italy opted to field.
Hope’s fluent knock with six fours and four sixes held the innings together, but experienced spinners Ben Manenti (2/37) and Crishan Kalugamage (2/25) choked the run flow in the back end to keep the total in check.
On a batting-friendly Eden surface with a lightning outfield, where England’s 202 was nearly chased down by Italy in the previous game, the target looked underwhelming at the innings break.
But West Indies’ bowlers got the job done without much hassle.
“Four and four is a result, you want in the next stage again. So let’s just take it one day at a time,” said Hope on his team’s unbeaten run in the tournament so far.
Young pace-bowling all-rounder Forde, who had conceded just 10 runs and taken a wicket against Nepal in Mumbai, set the tone in the powerplay with another tidy spell. He was exceptional with the new ball, returning figures of 2/17 in three overs.
Forde struck in his first over as Justin Mosca was bowled for 2, done in by an inducker. He then removed Syed Naqvi with a hard-length delivery that shaped away as the batter tried to smash and was caught at mid-off.
Shamar Joseph was the pick of the bowlers, using the short-ball strategy smartly. He ended Italy’s resistance by taking the key wicket of Grant Stewart in the 15th over, effectively sealing the contest.
Wily left-arm spinner Motie was outstanding in the middle overs. He foxed the batters with his guile, keeping scoreboard pressure intact and removing JJ Smuts (24) and the in-form Ben (26) just when they were looking to accelerate.
At the halfway stage, with Ben at the crease, the chase still looked possible. But Italy kept losing wickets after the early blows from Forde.
The successive dismissals of Stewart and Manenti — who had shared a blistering 92-run stand off 48 balls against England — hurt them badly.
Italy thus finished their campaign with one win from four matches, their lone victory coming against Nepal.
West Indies, who had already sealed their Super Eights berth, topped the group with all wins.
Put in, West Indies lost in-form Shimron Hetmyer (1) for a single-digit score for the first time in the World Cup, while opener Brandon King (4) also fell cheaply in the powerplay, but the Windies skipper batted effortlessly.
Italy struck with left-arm seamer Ali Hasan removing Brandon King (4) with his first ball.
But Hope, fresh from an unbeaten 61 against Nepal, counterattacked in style drilling a wide half-volley from fast bowler Thomas Draca through extra-cover.
Hasan then erred in line as Hope crashed two more fours through the off side before pulling him for a six over square leg in a 14-run over.
Hope brought up a 28-ball fifty while striking four sixes and six fours in a 46-ball knock, but Roston Chase’s sluggish 24 off 25 balls (2×4) hurt the momentum.
It dragged the Windies innings down, and even as Hope got boundaries at will, Chase looked tentative, and struggled to rotate the strike before holing out to deep forward square.
However, the Caribbeans managed to post enough for their bowlers to have a good chance against the relatively inexperienced rivals.
