He’s the captain of the Uganda National Cricket team and is an inspiration not only to his play mates but to a good number of burgeoning cricketers in Uganda. Davis Karashani meets his fan Carol Mugisha, the finance manager DHL Uganda.
How does it feel being the captain of the national cricket team?
It’s a challenging task on and off the field because the decisions you take can affect your fellow players and you are always supposed to be objective in every decision you make.
For how long have you captained the national cricket team and what does it take to be a good one?
It’s now five years since I was made the captain and having a good relationship with the rest of the players is an important aspect to be a good leader. Respect, hard work and commitment is also important.
What club do you play for?
I play for Wanderers Cricket Club and on the East African level, I play for Knights.
In your view, what country has been you toughest opponents and why?
That would be UAE and Ireland because every time we play them, they seem five steps ahead of us and we don’t seem to get any plan B against them.
If you were not Ugandan, which other country would you love playing for?
I would have loved to play for New Zealand because I love their brand of cricket. It’s a type of cricket that is collective. In cricket we have different brands like hard cricket, entertainment and collective.
Who do you consider your greatest cricketer of all time and why?
Steven Fleming from New Zealand is my best. He was the captain of their national team and led a mediocre team to glory. He was very calculative in his moves and played cricket as though he was playing chess.
Why do you wear shirt number 23?
I like it a lot and it motivates me. It has been worn by great sports men like Sheen Warn, Michael Jordan among others.
What would you swap cricket for?
Besides cricket, the other sport I would do is kick-boxing because it’s fun and interesting especially when you are not on the receiving end.
We’ve been hearing rumours of you guys not being comfortable with payments on the national level, how true are these rumours?
Yes the national team is not well paying at the moment but it’s not the worst. I guess if we win the next two tournaments, we’ll get what we deserve.
What’s your worst and best moment as a cricketer?
My worst moment was losing to Papua New Guinea by one run in Dubai in 2010. That loss alone cost us about Shs800m. And the best moment for me was scoring the winning runs against the US as the captain in the T20 World Cup qualifiers in 2011 and of course lifting the winners’ trophy in the Africa T20 championship in Uganda in the same year.
All that asked, you haven’t told me about yourself?
I’m called Davis Arinaitwe Karashani. I am 26 years old, the second born of six children, and I played badminton, table tennis, lawn tennis and cricket when I was growing up. I was born to the late Mr Emmanuel A. Karashani and Ms Edith Karashani.
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