T20 World Cup 2024: The Zimbabwe team could not even qualify for the 50-over World Cup. After this, its qualification for the T20 World Cup 2024 is also under threat. Zimbabwe had to face defeat at the hands of Uganda by five wickets. This was their second defeat in three matches in the Africa Region Qualifier. After this defeat, Zimbabwe’s hopes of qualifying for the T20 World Cup in 2024 have suffered a severe blow. In the tournament’s first match, Zimbabwe had to face defeat at the hands of Namibia. This defeat was described by their coach Dave Houghton as ’embarrassingly bad’. After this, the team defeated Tanzania by nine wickets.
At present, Zimbabwe is in fourth place among seven teams. Zimbabwe still has three more matches to play. Namibia and Kenya have not lost any match and are above Zimbabwe in the table. Both these teams have won all their three matches so far. Apart from Rwanda and Nigeria, Zimbabwe now has matches left against Kenya.
The Ugandan team is in fourth place. They defeated Tanzania and lost to Namibia. On Sunday it defeated Zimbabwe. This was Uganda’s first T20 International match against a full-time member and they won it. The top 2 teams of the Africa region will qualify for the T20 World Cup to be held in West Indies and America in June next year.
Zimbabwe had given a target of 137
Batting first against Uganda, the Zimbabwe team scored 136 runs at the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. Captain Sikandar Raza played the highest innings of 48 runs. Apart from captain Sikandar Raza, who scored 48 runs in 39 balls, no other batsman could survive. Innocent Kaiya (23 off 23 balls) and Shaun Williams could score only 21 runs off 24 balls.
Left-arm fast bowler Dinesh Nakrani played an important role in Uganda’s victory by three wickets.
He played an important role in restricting Zimbabwe to 136 for seven wickets. Chasing the target of 137, the Ugandan team easily achieved this target by losing 5 wickets in 19.1 overs.
Uganda had fallen by two wickets for 12 runs. After this Roger Mukasa and Alpesh Ramjani took over the innings. Ramjani scored 40 runs on 26 balls. Both added 49 runs for the third wicket. When he was out, Uganda needed 76 runs from 56 balls. Riyazat Ali Shah kept the team in the match by scoring 42 runs in 28 balls. After the ball, Nakrani also played well with the bat and scored 14 unbeaten runs. Sikandar Raza gave a four-bye run on the first ball of the last over and Uganda achieved a historic victory.
Only 2 teams will qualify for T20 World Cup 2024
This defeat has made it difficult for Zimbabwe to qualify for next year’s T20 World Cup. To qualify, Zimbabwe, which had already lost to Namibia, will have to win all its next matches, because only 2 out of 7 teams from this tournament in the African region will qualify for the 2024 World Cup.
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