Last match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Region Final is currently underway, with Italy batting first against the Netherlands. If Italy either wins this match, or lose it by a small margin then they qualify for the T20I World Cup of 2026. But ramifications of a win today is much more than that. Participation fee for the 2024 T20I World Cup was $225,000 and additionally, $31,154 per match was distributed among the winners of each match. And these amounts are much higher than the annual funding received by Italy from the ICC.
Italy lost this match by a big margin, In fact the Netherlands team won it by 9 wickets. But good luck for them that even after having a poor defeat, they qualified for the T20 World Cup that would be played next year in India. This is Italy first ever participation in any ICC tournament and man they are happy. Their captain Joe Burns told the media that they gonna win every match they play in the world cup. High ambitions from the captain and the team.
Anyways, I felt sad for the Scotland team. I really wished they would have Qualified with Netherlands, but that didn't happen. They play more better cricket than Italy but somehow can't make it.
The weakness of the Italy team in this match is that they have not created much momentum and have not given such a difficult target. The Netherlands team has won this match with a better performance and if you look at the pressure of their bowling, they have been able to get an easy win due to an easy target and 7 wickets. This is an opportunity for them but if they cannot play well in this too, it will be a shame for them and if this opportunity is given to some other team, I think it will be better. This is a great opportunity for them to prove themselves and become a successful team.
If they had played a little better, they could have been a better team for us, but I'm sorry because there were so many expectations with them. Many people thought so, but they have been failing to win matches and if they had the points, they could have been playing in a good position.