Coming out of slums, he/she made a place in WC team, this bowler’s story is full of struggles

New Delhi. 20 teams are participating in the T20 World Cup being jointly hosted by West Indies and America. Uganda’s team will be seen playing for the first time in this tournament to be held from June 2. Uganda qualified for the T20 World Cup in November last year. There is a fast bowler in this team who spent his/her childhood in the slums of Uganda’s capital Kampala. About 60 percent of the population in Kampala lives in slums and fast bowler Juma Miyagi is an inspiration for them.

The football-loving residents here watch cricket with great interest because of him/her. The debut of the Ugandan cricket team in the ICC T20 World Cup is no less than a dream for him/her. Juma Miyagi grew up in the Naguru slum on the outskirts of Kampala. After playing for the Ugandan Under-19 team for two years, he/she will now lead the bowling attack of the senior team in the T20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies and the US from June 1.

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Miyagi has taken 34 wickets in 21 matches
Uganda qualified for the Cricket World Cup for the first time in November last year. Miyagi, who has taken 34 wickets in 21 T20 matches so far, grew up in the slums and still lives there with his/her family. Simon Sesaji and reserve player Innocent Mwebaze, who are part of the T20 World Cup, also come from the slums. There was no clean drinking water, sewage system and no health facilities in their areas. Their story of hardships also moved Uganda’s Indian coach Abhay Sharma, who has joined the team before the T20 World Cup.

‘Kampala’s slums are different from Mumbai’s Dharavi’
It is not that Abhaya Sharma has never seen a slum but the slums of Kampala are different from Mumbai’s Dharavi. After spending time with the players, Sharma’s respect for them increased manifold. he/she told PTI from Trinidad, ‘I had not thought that they live in such conditions. They respect their coaches a lot and they feel that we can change their lives.’ Uganda is to play against Afghanistan in the first match of the World Cup on June 3.

“We need to improve our infrastructure.”
Uganda cricket team coach Abhay Sharma also said that some changes will have to be made in Uganda cricket to avoid the same fate as Kenya. Kenya has not played an ICC tournament since 2011. Sharma said, ‘The experience so far has been good. Some things will have to be changed. We will have to improve the infrastructure and start the game at the Under 16 level.’

tag: T20 World Cup