5 Uganda players to watch out for at T20 World Cup 2024 ft. Bilal Hassan
The T20 World Cup 2024 will start this weekend in the USA and West Indies. It is the third edition of the mega event in the 2020s. UAE and Oman co-hosted the tournament in 2021, while in 2022, Australia played host to this grand competition.
This year, West Indies and USA will co-host the T20 World Cup for the first time in the tournament's history. The ICC has tried to take cricket to newer regions, and to make cricket a global sport, more nations have been allowed entry into the main event of T20 World Cup 2024.
One of the teams debuting at this year's grand event is Uganda. The African nation stunned Zimbabwe in the qualifying rounds to punch their ticket to the USA and West Indies.
Uganda are in Group C along with West Indies, New Zealand, Afghanistan, and Papua New Guinea. Not many fans expect Uganda to finish in the top 2 of this group's points table, but if the following five players get going, the African nation can give the higher-ranked opponents a run for their money in T20 World Cup 2024.
#1 Bilal Hassan
Pakistan have produced some extraordinary fast bowlers in cricket history. While the majority of them represented the Men in Green at the international level, Punjab-born Bilal Hassan plays for Uganda.
Nicknamed Billy Blanks, Bilal has scalped 65 wickets in 43 T20I innings for Uganda. He is a right-arm fast bowler, who opens the bowling for his team. Notably, Bilal stands second on the list of players to have the most T20I wickets by rattling the batters' stumps. He has done it 44 times. Only Rashid Khan (45) has dismissed batters bowled out more times.
#2 Cosmas Kyewuta
Born on December 28, 2001, Cosmas Kyewuta is among the youngest players in this year's T20 World Cup. He bowls right-arm pace, just like his cricketing idol Dale Steyn.
Cosmas has picked up 27 wickets in 23 T20Is. His best bowling figures of 4/5 prove that once he gets going, the batters find it extremely difficult to score runs against him.
#3 Juma Miyaji
Another fast bowler to feature on the list is Juma Miyaji. His idol is Jofra Archer, who will turn up for England in T20 World Cup 2024. Miyaji is popularly known as Junior Gaga in the Uganda squad. Some even call him Nago Express for his pace.
Born in 2003, Juma has scalped 34 wickets in 20 T20I innings for his country. His best figures are 3/7, while the right-arm pacer's economy rate is less than six runs per over.
#4 Roger Mukasa
Donning jersey number 37 for Uganda, top-order wicketkeeper-batter Roger Mukasa has grown up idolizing Australian legend Adam Gilchrist. Roger has an enormous amount of experience under his belt.
In his T20 career, he has scored 1,675 runs in 87 innings at an average of 20.42 and a strike rate of just below 115. Uganda will expect the 34-year-old to bring his experience to the fore in the upcoming games.
#5 Simon Ssesazi
Another wicketkeeper-batter present in Uganda's T20 World Cup 2024 squad is Simon Ssesazi. He bats left-handed, just like his idol Chris Gayle. Ssesazi dons jersey number 24, and his dream destination is Toronto, Canada.
The 27-year-old has aggregated over 2,000 runs in 76 T20I innings, registering one century and averaging over 30. He will hold the key to Uganda's success in the T20 World Cup 2024.