T20 World Cup | Sublime Hope and incisive Joseph ease Windies past Italy

Shai Hope's stellar 75 leads West Indies to a 42-run victory over Italy in T20 World Cup Group-C match.

Skipper Shai Hope (75, 46b, 6x4, 4x6) found a gear between timing and intent to steer West Indies to 165 for six, setting up a 42-run win over Italy in their last Group-C match of the ongoing T20 World Cup at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

His innings gathered pace without ever looking like it was trying to. It didn’t announce itself; it revealed itself, over by over. It was T20 batting with an accent — classical strokes, spoken quickly, fluently, and with no wasted syllables. Power arrived not as a flex but as a consequence.

Italy’s Thomas Draca celebrates after taking the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer of the West Indies in the Men’s T20 World Cup at the Eden Garden in Kolkata on Thursday, 19 February, 2026. | Photo Credit: RITURAJ KONWAR

He expressed his class through covers, caressing, blasting, and lofting four fours and a six there. The bowlers kept flirting with that line outside off, and the bat kept responding with the same calm verdict.

Meanwhile, his teammates either struggled to begin or to endure. Brandon King (4) and Shimron Hetmyer (1) fell early to the pacers, before the spinners took over.

Roston Chase made a scratchy 24 off 25 balls before hacking across the line and skying an outside edge off Ben Manenti. Rovman Powell (9) followed soon after, holing out to deep backward square just after launching a six there, also off Manenti.