Pakistan-born cricketer star in Uganda’s historic win over Zimbabwe

Riazat Ali Shah played a pivotal role as Uganda beat Zimbabwe by five wickets to take two crucial points in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier.

Placed 23rd on the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, Uganda stunned much higher-placed Zimbabwe in the Africa Region Qualifier.

With this Uganda moved up to the third place on the points table, which is led by Namibia and Kenya. Zimbabwe, the only Test-playing nation in the competition, are sitting in fourth place with two points and need other results to go their way if they have any hopes of qualifying for the T20 World Cup next year.

Zimbabwe batted first and found the going tough, losing wickets at regular intervals. While skipper Sikandar Raza top-scored with 48*, Uganda’s star was Dinesh Nakrani, who finished with 3/14.

During the chase, Uganda's batting effort was spearheaded by Riazat Ali Shah, a 25-year-old batsman born in Gilgit, Pakistan, who has represented Uganda in over 50 T20I matches. Together with Alpesh Ramjani (40), Riazat played a crucial role as Uganda successfully chased down Zimbabwe's total in the 19th over, securing the victory with five wickets to spare.

This was the first time Uganda played against a Full Member in T20Is and they won the game by five wickets.

Only the top two sides in the Region Qualifier will make it to the T20 World Cup 2024.