Nepal fans turn Wankhede into home ground during Italy clash

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While some of the minnow teams are normally known to spring surprises in big ticket events like World Cups, in the context of the ongoing T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, it’s the fans of a minnow team, who have stunned many with their presence in large numbers.

Team Nepal’s fans took over the Wankhede Stadium once again on Thursday, during the match against Italy. Some 13,000-plus spectators filled up the Mumbai venue and almost all of them were Nepal supporters. In Nepal’s previous match against England last Sunday there were even bigger numbers, some 17,000-plus. 

And just like during the match against England, the stadium reverberated with “Nepal, Nepal,” during the team’s batting performance in the afternoon. However, though the excitement and celebrations in the stands continued in the second innings of that England match, which Nepal lost narrowly, this time the second innings witnessed a deathly silence among the fans as Nepal lost by an embarrassing 10-wicket margin. 

Interestingly however, though the fans were visibly upset with their team, they still waited back to watch Italy opener Anthony Mosca (62 not out) take the final winning single.

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