T20 Word Cup 2026: Shane Warne was a big influence on my career, says Italy’s Benjamin Manenti

Growing up in Sydney, Benjamin Manenti admired the late Shane Warne. For him, the spin legend was a ‘hero’, and on Thursday, after he played a key hand in Italy’s ten-wicket win against Nepal in a T20 World Cup fixture, Manenti credited the influence of Warne on his career.

The 28-year-old bowled one of the most economical spells in the tournament (4-0-9-2). He admitted that he wasn’t too nervous despite Nepal batters getting a good start.

‘’Obviously, growing up in Australia (and) watching Shane Warne bowl, he was a hero for all spinners. He was probably a big influence on my career, and I got a lot of coaches back home that have helped me out as well,’’ Manenti said after his team’s historic win.

Manenti, along with Crishan Kalugamage (3/18), put the Nepal batters on the mat. ‘’I’ve played a lot of T20 cricket now. I’ve bowled the first over a lot of times. There’s a job I’m used to, a job I’ve done before, so I wasn’t I wasn’t too nervous, but it’s nice to get the team off to a good start,’’ he said.

‘’We watched the England vs West Indies game last night and we saw it was spinning a little bit. So once we knew we were on the same wicket, we sort of came up with a bit of a plan on how to bowl, and it was nice to work in tandem with them today.’’

Hunting in pair was, indeed, the key for Italy. ‘’I think we got six wickets between us today, so it’s always nice when the wicket does spin in T20 cricket. You don’t often get it. when you do, it’s nice,’’ he added.

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With a first win in the World Cup, Manenti hoped that there will be strong reactions back home in Italy. ‘’We’ve had a big six to eight months. There’s a lot of attention on us. There’s a lot of eyes, a lot of ears, watching us and listening to us. It’s great for the growth of the game back home in Italy,’’ he said.