Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying for the men’s T20 World Cup in 2024 have been severely damaged with a five-wicket loss to Uganda, their second defeat in three matches at the Africa Region Qualifier. Zimbabwe’s coach Dave Houghton described the team’s performance against hosts Namibia as “embarrassingly bad” before the match, and the team had defeated Tanzania by nine wickets in their second match.
With three games remaining, Zimbabwe is now ranked fourth out of seven teams. Kenya and Namibia, who have each won all three of their games thus far, are at the top of the table with perfect records. Zimbabwe’s remaining matches are against Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria, who are currently below them in the standings.
Prior to Sunday’s results, Uganda had defeated Tanzania and lost to Namibia, placing them in third place. Uganda celebrated their first-ever T20I match against a Full Member team in grand fashion.
The West Indies and the USA will host the 20-team T20 World Cup in June 2024, with the top two teams from the Africa Region Qualifier advancing to the tournament.
Dinesh Nakrani, a left-arm seamer, took three wickets to help Uganda win. Nakrani was instrumental in keeping Zimbabwe to 136 for 7 after they were sent in. With the exception of captain Sikandar Raza, who amassed 48 runs off of 39 balls, neither Innocent Kaia nor Sean Williams were able to generate much traction after getting off to sluggish starts.
Uganda’s chase got off to a rough start when they were down 12 for 2, but Alpesh Ramjani and Roger Mukasa combined to steadie their innings. Ramjani, who added 40 off 26 balls to the third-wicket stand of 49, was by much the more dominant partner. Uganda needed 76 from 56 balls when he fell, but Riazat Ali Shah maintained them in the hunt with a 42 off 28 balls. The ball-wielding hero, Nakrani, was also present at the end, having contributed an undefeated 14 to the historic victory. From the first delivery of the last over, Raza’s bowling produced four byes, which proved to be the winning moment.
