New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah, congratulated the Uganda men’s cricket team after they sealed a spot for next year’s T20 World Cup for the first-ever time on Thursday. Uganda’s qualification was confirmed when they defeated Rwanda by nine wickets in the penultimate match of the Africa region qualifiers. While Uganda joined Namibia as the two teams from the region for next year’s mega event, Zimbabwe missed out.
“HISTORY CREATED! For the first time in their cricketing history, Uganda have qualified for the T20 World Cup after convincingly beating Rwanda in their final game of the Africa region qualifier! What a moment for Uganda Cricket. Congratulations to all the players and support staff for a stunning qualifiers campaign and best wishes for the 2024 T20 World Cup!,” Shah tweeted.
Earlier, in the last round of matches in the Africa leg of the Men’s T20 World Cup qualifiers, Uganda managed to become only the fifth African nation to feature in a ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, after beating Rwanda. Uganda’s nine-wicket win over Rwanda meant that Zimbabwe will miss out on playing a global tournament for the second successive time, despite looking on course to win their game against Nigeria.
HISTORY CREATED!
For the first time in their cricketing history, Uganda have qualified for the T20 World Cup after convincingly beating Rwanda in their final game of the Africa region qualifier! What a moment for Uganda Cricket. Congratulations to all the players and support… pic.twitter.com/MBFsrDw2DP
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) November 30, 2023
In the qualifier, Uganda overcame Tanzania in their opening game by a comfortable margin of eight wickets. However, in the next game, a brilliant 4/17 from Namibian fast-bowling all-rounder David Wiese consigned them to a six-wicket defeat.
Uganda bounced back by defeating the Test-playing Zimbabwe by five wickets. Their bowling effort led by Dinesh Nakrani (3/14), restricted Zimbabwe to 136/7. During the chase, the Uganda were guided by handy knocks from Riazat Ali Shah (42) and Alpesh Ramjani (40) to win by five wickets in a major upset result.
Lifted by this effort, the side then overcame Nigeria with ease, and followed up with a 33-run win over Kenya and got a comfortable nine-wicket win over Rwanda. Uganda’s top-notch bowling effort bowled out Rwanda for merely 65, which they chased down in 8.1 overs.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe, who suffered losses at the hands of Namibia and Uganda in the Africa qualifier, missed out on the bus for the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup. The side had failed to finish in top two of 2019 and 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup qualifiers to miss out on the main tournaments in England and India.
Zimbabwe had featured in the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, where they’d garnered a famous one-run win over Pakistan at Perth in the Super 12 stage, after missing out on playing in 2021 edition due to ICC suspension for government interference in cricket administration.
With Agency Inputs
