Italy Cricket Team: Italy’s Mosca brothers, Justin and Anthony, as well as the Manenti brothers, Ben and Harry, took part in a podcast with Australia-based ‘The Grade Cricketer’. This podcast was uploaded on 5 February before the start of T20 World Cup 2026. There was a part of that 30-minute video, which is now going viral on social media. In that part of the video, the Italian captain mentions India’s ‘tap water’, after which all the other players laugh.
Italian players made fun of India
In a part of the podcast, Italy captain Harry Manenti talked about the ‘occasional habit of drinking alcohol’ of Italian players on cricket tours. He started the discussion by remembering his previous tour to Finland, but when the captain mentioned India’s ‘tap water’, his teammates could not stop laughing.
Harry’s words, and the subsequent reaction of his teammates, have sparked debate online, with many linking them to wider concerns about the infrastructure and facilities in India for the T20 World Cup 2026.
The Italy captain said, when we started our first tournament, we went to Finland. We have progressed a lot since then. Almost every evening he sits in a pub and drinks a lot of beer, sometimes even goes to a karaoke bar. Now the water of India is not tap water, but from now on there will be some Kingfisher fishes in the team.
This is Italy’s cricket team on a podcast
They are openly mocking our tap water & how poor the civic conditions are here in India
The real issue isn’t their mockery
The real issue is that our pathetic infrastructure which has made it easy for them to laugh. It’s embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/KliDWr0d9y
— Nehr_who? (@Nher_who) February 19, 2026
Will ICC take action against Italy?
At present, there is no possibility of the International Cricket Council i.e. ICC taking any action against the Italian cricketers in this matter. In fact, the players were engaging in a light-hearted interactive podcast and did not make any formal complaints or direct allegations regarding the arrangements of the tournament.
The controversy erupted on social media on February 19 when an X user shared the footage without context. The video soon went viral, especially among Indian fans, many of whom expressed concerns about the infrastructure.
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