Matthew Ford bids an inglorious farewell to Syed Naqvi: West Indies will face Italy in the final Group C game of the 2026 T20 World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Windies have already qualified for the Super 8 stage by winning all three of their matches in the tournament. It remains a dead rubber as they have not made any changes to the side.
Italy have played good cricket in their maiden edition of the T20 World Cup, showcasing their talent as they won against Nepal and also came close against England. During the second innings of the match, when Italy was chasing the target, a heated moment unfolded when Windies fast bowler Matthew Ford abused Syed Naqvi after taking his wicket.
Matthew Ford bids an inglorious farewell to Syed Naqvi
The incident occurred during 5.5 overs of the game, when Naqvi tried to slog the ball to Matthew Ford, and the bat was cut and the ball went straight into the air and Shamar Joseph took a simple catch in the mid-off region. After this wicket of Matthew Ford, Italy’s score became 37/3.
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Talking about the match, after being invited to bat first, West Indies did not have a good start and they lost the wicket of opener Brandon King in the second over of the match itself. They were reduced to 31/2 in the first five overs, with Shimron Hetmyer returning with just one run.
Shai Hope played captaincy innings
Captain Shai Hope took the responsibility in his hands and played a brilliant inning of 75 runs in 46 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 163.04. Small cameos from Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford and Matthew Ford helped the Windies post a decent score of 165/6.
While chasing the target, Italy lost its openers Mosca brothers in the power play. After the end of 14 overs their score is 94/5. Benjamin Manenti and Grant Stewart are at the crease, who have just arrived. JJ Smuts is the latest batsman to be out on the score of 24 runs in 27 balls.
Italy struggled to chase
They still need 72 runs from 36 balls; It looks difficult as they need someone to take big steps and score runs quickly. Since the required run rate has become 12. Windies will be looking for a good finish and win this game too to clinch four out of four spots.
West Indies have been drawn in Super 8 Group 1 along with South Africa, Zimbabwe and India. They have a great chance to qualify for the semi-finals as the Windies have played good cricket in India.
West Indies have been the dark horse of the competition with a strong spin bowling department. They are two-time champions of the competition, in 2012 and 2016. Both of their trophies came in the subcontinent, once in Sri Lanka and later in India.
This time, both the countries are co-hosts, and they will be looking to repeat history once again considering their subcontinent’s record in T20 World Cup editions.
Also read: BCB boss claims Mohsin Naqvi brainwashed Bangladesh into taking anti-India steps, had to withdraw from T20 World Cup