Manenti: Hopefully the game grows big enough in Italy that we can play full-time

Italy's stand-in captain Harry Manenti underlined the scale of his side's win over Nepal, a team ranked much higher than them, by pointing to how several of his team-mates still juggled day jobs and cricket.

Manenti cited the example of Crishan Kalugamage, who works at a pizzeria. Against Nepal, he produced a performance that powered Italy (ranked 26th in T20Is) to a commanding ten-wicket win against Nepal, ranked ten places above them at No. 16. Manenti hoped the situation would change in the future and saw this win as a starting point.

"If you look at the squad, there are 12 out of the 15 players who have to work outside of cricket," Manenti said. "Crish [Kalugamage] is a good example, he just got a Man of the Match in a World Cup-winning game and he makes pizzas for a living back home to try and earn enough money to train. Hopefully, in a few years' time, if not sooner, the game grows big enough in Italy that we can play [full-time].

"That's on us as a playing group currently to create those opportunities by winning games and showing the world what we can do. And then it's on other people and the federation and the ICC and other teams to be willing to play us. At the moment, we're ranked 27th [26th as of February 12] in the world, hopefully, that has changed today, but we're ranked 27th in the world in a competition of 20 teams. So if you do the math, we're outsiders every time we play, no matter who we play against, whether it's Nepal or Scotland or England or West Indies. We'll always be the outsiders, which we thrive on and we love."

Manenti hopes Italy's appearance at this tournament and their spirited performances will urge higher-ranked teams to schedule series with them in the future, which will also help grow the game in Italy.

"We want to climb up, but for that, we need to play games. We want other teams to host us and build facilities that host them back. And that's our goal as a team. That will provide opportunities for kids who are currently in Italy learning the game at a school level to see us playing in Rome or Milan or Bologna, wherever it might be, to see what the pathway is, and to see Harry Manenti or Anthony Mosca or Crishan, whoever it might be, to be playing in a World Cup."

Manenti already senses a shift in interest back home. "I've been to Italy a fair few times now and we've had a few preparations and a few tournaments there. I've had the privilege of meeting a lot of people who are passionate about the game in Italy.

"I'm hoping what we've managed to do, not just today but in the last few weeks, in the last few years, has built a reputation in Italy that we are a federation who are working hard. We've brought in some really high-class coaching that was crucial to working with the players."

He emphasised the scale of exposure that a stage like this offers his side. "Had he [Crishan] stayed in Sri Lanka, he probably wouldn't have got one, the life experience he has in Italy and two, the opportunity to show his skills on the world stage," Manenti said.

"For the 15 players, we had never seen a World Cup fixture. For us to be able to use this knowledge was crucial, hopefully we can take that back to Italy now and continue to grow the game there."

Back in Italy, training sessions still take place on astroturf pitches, and Manenti pointed out how far the infrastructure has to go. "World exposure in India will hopefully grow in terms of eyes on the game and eyes on Italy cricket. But we're still a long way away from facilities, coaching within Italy, opportunities for guys to play cricket and hopefully that comes from this tournament."

As for how they prepared against Nepal, they took inspiration from Nepal themselves - the way they played against England in their opening game. "If we're timid against the big boys, then we're no chance. We have to really try and take it to them," Manenti said. "We took some learnings from the way Nepal played against England. They took the game to them and you saw it's really interesting to watch actually when you put the favourite team under pressure, they tend to not play as well."