Italy Cricket Warns England [Source: @ICC, @ishi_178/x]Italy cricket president Simone Gambino shed tears and became visibly emotional as the Italy cricket team trounced Nepal by 10 wickets in match 17 of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The outcome marked a historic occasion for Italy Cricket, considering they registered their first-ever event in a T20 World Cup match. Italy will now face historic sporting rivals England in their next match of the tournament. Ahead of the much-awaited clash, the Italy cricket president has now fired a warning shot to Harry Brook’s troops. Italy cricket president says Italy will “shoot down England” In a video shared by Cricket Italy on social media, Italy cricket president Simone Gambino and Indian actor Kabir Bedi interacted with each other in light of the team’s historic T20 World Cup 2026 Group C win against a strong Nepal side. It is worth noting that Kabir Bedi shares strong ties with Italy owing to his former acting gigs in the country. While the two shared a candid interaction, Simone Gambino also visibly became emotional over Italy’s strong outing against Nepal. He further rekindled Italy’s strong sporting rivalry against continental nemesis England, and expressed his confidence that his side will beat the Englishmen in their upcoming Group C match-up in Kolkata. Simone Gambino said, “I would’ve never imagined this moment. But now we are going right back to Kolkata to shoot down England. We want to be in semis.”England braces up for Italy challengeCricket aside, Italy and England share one of the fiercest rivalries in European football. The two teams even faced each other at the UEFA Euro 2020 final in London, with Italy winning the high-profile match 3-2 on penalties. Few would have imagined that this long-standing football rivalry would now spill onto the cricket field as well, adding an extra layer of intrigue ahead of their upcoming T20 World Cup clash. While the English team would certainly fancy itself to come out on top, it is worth noting that England has never beaten any European side in a T20 World Cup game. Back in 2009 during the second edition of the T20 World Cup, Netherlands upstaged England in an exhilarating last-ball thriller. Five years later in Bangladesh, the Dutch repeated the feat to make it 2-0 against England in T20 World Cups. Furthermore, during England’s historic 2022 T20 World Cup winning campaign in Australia, their only defeat of the tournament occurred against Ireland in a rain-married game. With England now scheduled to go up against fellow European teams Scotland and Italy in Group C, Harry Brook’s troops would certainly feel some sense of psychological pressure. Italy’s meteoric in T20 World Cup 2026 The Italy cricket team qualified for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup by finishing runners-up at the 2025 Men's T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final last year. After getting humbled by Scotland on February 9 in their opening match of the tournament, Italy flayed Nepal by 10 wickets to register their first-ever win on their maiden T20 World Cup campaign itself. Italy will now England on February 16 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
