The Cricket Cranes bounced back from their opening-match defeat with a convincing eight-wicket victory over Bahrain in the second T20I of the series at Jinja Senior Secondary School Oval on Tuesday afternoon.
The win levels the series at 1-1 before the crucial final encounter, a 50-over match scheduled for Thursday October 21.
Bahrain won the toss and elected to bat first with Uganda’s bowlers tightening their lines and lengths compared to the previous game.
Haider Ali and Imran Javed Anwer, who impressed in the first T20I, took a wicket apiece early on, restricting Bahrain’s scoring rate.
Openers Muhammad Rizwan Butt and Ali Dawood again struggled to build a substantial partnership, falling cheaply.
The rest of the Bahrain batting order crumbled under pressure, with only Shreyas Jayashankar (22 runs) offering any resistance.
Uganda’s bowlers were disciplined, with Abdul Majid Abbasi and Asif Ali taking two wickets each as Bahrain were dismissed for a paltry 89 runs in 18.1 overs.
Uganda’s chase began cautiously, with openers Raghav Dhawan (21 runs) and Obuya Robinson (28 runs) taking their time to settle in.
They built a solid 32-run partnership before Raghav fell victim to Imran Javed Anwer.
However, the experienced Shrideep Mangela (36 runs) joined Obuya at the crease and steadied the innings with a composed knock.
The pair added a further 55 runs for the second wicket, effectively taking the game away from Bahrain.
Dinesh Kumar Nakrani (6 runs) finished the job with a six in the 16th over, securing a comfortable victory for Uganda.
The series will be decided on Thursday, October 31st, with the one-day match scheduled for a 10 am start at the same venue.
Both teams will be aiming to gain the upper hand before the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament.
