KOLKATA: Italy captain Wayne Madsen, who dislocated his shoulder during the fourth over of the clash against Scotland, is all but ruled out of the rest of the T20 World Cup 2026. Without the services of their skipper, the debutants lost to Scotland by 73 runs here at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
John Davison, their head coach, said that it is unlikely for Madsen to take part in the remainder of the tournament. “He dislocated his shoulder. The physio managed to get it back in, but he'll have to go and get more scans to see how serious it is. I'm not going to say he's out, but I think it'll be doubtful. If you dislocate your shoulder in cricket, it's going to be pretty tough to come back from, but we'll see what the scans say,” Davison told reporters after the match.
Having played most of the contest with just ten men on the field, Italy struggled to rally the troops as Scotland posted 207/4 before restricting the debutants to 134/9 in 16.4 overs. The head coach felt that the captain, who is also their best player of spin, going down early was not helpful.
“A captain going down like that at the start of the game was a tough one for us. Things weren't really going our way either. I think they had six or seven boundaries on the outside edges. At the six-over break, I spoke to the boys about how we had two choices. We either hang our heads and go, ‘well, things aren't going our way’. Or alternatively, we put up a fight,” Davison said, before adding, “I think 200 on that wicket is achievable. I think that with the Manenti boys' partnership,and then with Grant Stewart still there, who can hit a big ball, I was still hopeful that we could get back into the contest. I don't think it's a reality check for us. I think our biggest challenge was always going to be to bring our best game to the occasion. I think that the occasion may have gotten a little bit big on us.”
Davison said that Madsen will be an even bigger miss in Mumbai when they take on Nepal later this week. The other challenge in Mumbai will be the bounce on the surface, something that troubled Italy in Kolkata as well. “I think Mumbai is going to be a challenge for us. We will fly tomorrow morning. We have a training session at another venue and then we'll have to think on our feet. The Nepalese guys have had the benefit of playing there and I think they play all four games there. That's a big advantage for them. We'll have to just adjust and think on our feet. We don't have our captain, who is probably one of our better players of spin. Someone else will have to step up into that spot and steer the innings through the middle,” said Davison, who hopes that Madsen will be able to travel with them and be with the coaching staff even if he does not take the field.