Uganda beat Rwanda with nine wickets and 71 balls in hand to qualify for the T20 World Cup for the first time.
Uganda finished second in the 2022/23 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers, becoming the 20th and final team to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup, to be hosted by West Indies and the United States. I did.
The Cranes played their final league match at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek with a 16-0 record against Rwanda. This is the most lopsided record of any team against a single opponent in a men’s T20I.
In order to qualify for the T20 World Cup, they needed to pick up points by defeating a full-fledged Zimbabwe early in the tournament. In other words, they could have survived even a losing game.
Uganda defeated Rwanda for 65 in 18.5 overs with captain Brian Masaba opting to bowl. Alpesh Ramjani had impressive figures of 3-2-1-2, along with Masaba (2-10), Henry Senyondo (2-10), Dinesh Nakrani (2-16) and Riazat Ali Shah. (1-5) shared the other wickets.
For Rwanda, Eric Dusinjisimana (19 off 22 balls) and Muhammad Nadir (11 off 24) were the only players to reach double figures. There were three fours and one six in the entire innings.
Uganda hardly broke a sweat during the chase. Ronak Patel failed with a 20-ball 18, but Simon Senaj (26 not out from 21 balls) and Roger Mukasa (13 not out from 8) ensured victory in 8.1 overs.
Uganda has advanced to the 2022 World Qualifiers and qualified for the African Qualifiers. The team includes hosts Namibia and Zimbabwe, who participated in the 2022 T20 World Cup, as well as Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania, who all made it through this year’s African regional qualifying tournament.
They started their qualifying campaign with an eight-wicket win against Tanzania and lost against Namibia by six wickets. Then, in his first full international match against an ICC regular team, he chased down the target by restricting Zimbabwe to 136-7 with five wickets and his five balls in hand.
This was followed by a nine-wicket win against Nigeria. In the all-important penultimate match, they posted a score of 162-5, defeating Kenya by a margin of 129 runs and seemingly clinching their place in the T20 World Cup. I did.
In these circumstances, Namibia became the first of the two teams in the group to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
The other teams in the race, Zimbabwe and Kenya, went into the final match with six points, two behind Uganda. Uganda secured qualification with one point and two points towards qualification.
This will be Uganda’s first appearance at the World Cup, but Ugandans Sam Walusimbi and John Najenda previously played for the East African squad in the 1975 World Cup.
ICC T20 World Cup 2024 teams
Host – United States, West Indies. From T20 World Cup 2022 – England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands. T20I team standings – Afghanistan, Bangladesh. Qualifications – Ireland, Scotland (Europe). Papua New Guinea (East Asia Pacific); Canada (America); Nepal, Oman (Asia); Namibia, Uganda (Africa).
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