ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Qualifiers are set to bowl off at the Harare Sports Club ground in the heart of Zimbabwe and Uganda’s Cricket Cranes are among the sides vying for spots at the finals that will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
The race starts Friday in Zimbabwe, where eight African teams will fight for two spots on cricket’s biggest stage and Uganda is among those with intent to secure a return to the Global piece having qualified in the previous 2024 edition.
Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania and Malawi joined Uganda, Nigeria, Namibia and hosts Zimbabwe to complete the line-up.
The top two finishers in the (Finalists) will qualify for next year’s World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. The tournament runs from 26 September to 4 October at Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club.
Each group plays a round-robin before the semi-finals decide the finalists and the two World Cup tickets. Group Stage Battles Group A: Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria
Group B: Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe Friday’s opener features Namibia Vs Kenya at Harare and Nigeria Vs Malawi at Takashinga in the morning.
In the afternoon, Uganda face Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club while Tanzania meet Botswana in Takashinga at 02:50 pm (EAT)
Confident Uganda captain Riazat Ali Shah dismissed pressure talk. “We’ve won 80 percent of our games since the World Cup. We want to keep rising and create opportunities for players back home,” he said.
In a late change, the team replaced Shrideep Mangela who got injured in the warm up games with on form Ronald Lutaaya
Uganda team
Uganda Riazat Ali Shah, Joseph Baguma, Robinson Obuya, Dineshkumar Nakrani, Cyrus Kakuru, Alpesh Ramjani, Miyaji Juma, Frank Nsubuga, Henry Ssenyondo, Cosmas Kyewuta, Sumeet Verma, Gaurav Tomer, Ronald Lutaaya, Raghav Dhawan, Innocent Mwebaze
With form on their side, the Cricket Cranes aim to join Africa’s elite and show-off big hitting, sharp bowling until October 4, when only two teams will claim tickets to the 2026 World Cup.
