Riazat ensured their first victory in T20 World Cup history
Uganda won its maiden T20 World Cup match by a close three wickets. In a low-scoring encounter in Guyana, both sides fought for their first victory in the tournament, and they defeated Papua New Guinea. Put to bat first, PNG’s batting collapsed to 77 all out before Uganda, who were in dire straits at 26 for 5, made it home in the nineteenth over.
Rising star of Uganda Riazat Ali Shah guided the Cranes through the difficult pursuit with a low backlift in his cautious 33 off 56, dropping just before the turning point. Though PNG was left to lament their inadequate batting, they also gave up Fifteen wide runs, which made Uganda’s chase easier.
The highlight of the evening was Uganda’s bowling in the first innings, which was set up by 43-year-old Frank Nsubuga and 21-year-old Juma Miyagi.
With excellent spells, they both justified their presence in this game. Nsubuga bowled 4-2-4-2, the most economical period (min. four overs) in T20 World Cup history. After Ajantha Mendis in 2012, he also became the only bowler to bowl Twenty dot balls in a Twenty20 World Cup match. With the second ball, Alpesh Ramjani offered Uganda a wicket when left-handed Assad Vala shot back to the left arm of the spinner, who angled the ball towards the wicket and onto the stumps. After that, Miyagi and Cosmas Kyewuta’s pace kept PNG on the back foot.
Not left-handed, Roger Mukasa grabbed a falling catch and headed backwards after Sese Bau failed to clear Miyagi over mid-off. The most significant breakthrough came when Tony Ura, the most incredible run scorer in Twenty20 Internationals for PNG, also holed out to Mukasa.
Lega Siaka was stressed out playing out dots versus the two quick bowlers and was run out for Twelve in the seventh over while attempting to get a second run. Nsubuga became the second oldest bowler to take a wicket in the Twenty20 World Cup when he slid one through Charles Amini’s leg stump in the eleventh over. Then Nsubuga had Hiri Hiri lbw, even though it appeared that the batter had gone too far down the wicket. Still, the review worked out well for Uganda.
The second wicket for Ramjani came when he again had Kiplin Doriga lbw for twelve. Then, captain Brian Masaba got involved, slipping a top spinner past Chad Soper’s defenses. With five balls left, PNG was bowled out by Miyagi and Kyewuta.
When Alei Nao eliminated Mukasa in the opening over for his second duck in a comparable number of games, PNG had the same start. Then, Norman Vanua removed Uganda’s top scorer, Robinson Obuya, from the Afghanistan game and holed out to mid-on, where Assad Vala had to shift to finish the catch.
Nao had Simon Ssesazi lbw in the third over as PNG reached a dangerous 6 for 3. Then, as he and Riazat worked to get Uganda out of difficulty, Ramjani struck an excellent boundary past the offside. But Soper got the seam-up ball to scissor through Ramjani in the sixth over. PNG was in control after captain Vala had caught and bowled Dinesh Nakrani. Amini dropped Riazat when he was on eight when Uganda was 35 for 5. After Riazat had made a false shot, it was a straightforward opportunity, but it proved a crucial turning point in Uganda’s pursuit. In the eleventh over, Riazat produced his solitary boundary by hitting a deft cover drive from Vala.
With Miyagi, he scored 35 runs for the sixth wicket. However, the latter was out in the fourteenth over due to confusion. Even though PNG continued to assist them, Riazat remained composed. While Riazat eventually fell in the 18th over, Bau dropped Kenneth Waiswa on four. Though a tad late, John Kariko made a nice catch at third-man.
