ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, Match 17: NEP vs ITA, head-to-head, pitch report and predicted playing XIs

Nepal is set to face Italy in Match 17 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 on Thursday, February 12, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both teams lost their opening matches and would like to secure their first win of the tournament.

Nepal was unlucky to have lost their first match against England by just four runs. In a high-scoring match, Nepal batsmen showed great spirit and almost won the match. Rohit Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee scored crucial knocks, while Lokesh Bam was impressive with his aggressive batting. Nepal will be boosted by their previous performance and will look to correct a few errors to win the match.

Italy, on the contrary, had a tough day in their match against Scotland. They had a huge target to achieve and were unable to keep up with the required rate. Ben Manenti and Harry Manenti were the positives for the team with their batting performance. The rest of the players were not able to meet expectations in the batting department. They will have to improve on all fronts, especially their bowlers to challenge Nepal.

NEP vs ITA: Head-to-Head in T20Is

Nepal and Italy have never face each other in T20I. This will be the first encounter in this format, so there is no head-to-head record, both teams are currently at 0-0.

SL vs OMN: Pitch Report

The Wankhede Stadium is generally known for big-scoring matches. The conditions tend to have good bounce and pace, and this helps the batsmen get used to playing their shots. The short boundaries also help in this. The fast bowlers will get good movement in the beginning, and the spinners might come into the game in the middle overs. A total of 170-180 runs in the first innings is decent.

See Also: ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: IND vs NAM Today Match Prediction – 18th Match, Who Will Win Today?

NEP vs ITA: Predicted Playing XIs

Nepal (NEP):

Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Bhurtel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sundeep Jora, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Aarif Sheikh, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav, Lokesh Bam, Sandeep Lamichhane

Italy (ITA):

Wayne Madsen (c), Justin Mosca, Anthony Mosca, JJ Smuts, Harry Manenti, Marcus Campopiano, Gian-Piero Meade (wk), Grant Stewart, Jaspreet Singh, Ali Hasan, Crishan Kalugamage