Coming out of the slums to make it to the WC team, this bowler’s story is full of struggles.

New Delhi. 20 teams are participating in the T20 World Cup jointly organized by West Indies and America. The Ugandan 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. The team has a fast bowler who spent his childhood in the slums of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. About 60 percent of Kampala’s population lives in slums and fast bowler Juma Miyagi is their inspiration.

Due to this the residents here who are fond of football watch cricket with interest. The debut of the Uganda cricket team in the ICC T20 World Cup is nothing less than a dream come true for them. Juma Miyagi grew up in the Naguru slum on the outskirts of Kampala. After playing for Uganda’s Under-19 team for two years, he will now take charge of the senior team’s bowling in the T20 World Cup to be held in West Indies and America 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 so far taken 34 wickets in 21 T20 matches, grew up in a slum and still lives there with his family. T20 World Cup participant Simon Sesaji and reserve player Innocent Mwebaje are also slum dwellers. Their areas had no clean drinking water, sewage system and no health facilities. His tale of woes has also irked Uganda’s Indian coach Abhay Sharma, who has been linked with the team ahead of the T20 World Cup.

‘Kampala’s slums are different from Mumbai’s Dharavi’
It’s not that Abhaya Sharma has never seen a slum but Kampala’s slums are different from Mumbai’s Dharavi. After spending time with the players, Sharma’s respect for them increased manifold. “I didn’t think they were living in this condition,” he told PTI from Trinidad. They respect their coaches a lot and they feel we can change their lives.

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

Tags: T20 World Cup