Obuya names team for T20 World Cup qualifiers

Kenya will be banking on experience at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup Sub-Regional Africa “A” Qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.

Eight teams will feature in the competition to be held in a round robin format at Gahanga Stadium from November 15 to 26.

Rwanda, Mali, Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, Seychelles, and Saint Helena are the teams Kenya will come up against in the first round of the qualifiers for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup that will be jointly hosted by West Indies and the United States.

The top two teams in the Sub-Regional Africa “A” qualifiers will progress to the regional contest where Namibia, Uganda and Zimbabwe await.

They will be joined by the top two teams in the Sub-Regional Africa “B” qualifiers.

Kenya’s coach David Obuya said they should easily dominate the Sub-Regional Africa “A” qualifiers since they are the most experienced side.

“Because we have not had enough time to train, we will rely a lot on our experience being the strongest team in the tournament and having played a lot of cricket matches than the rest of the teams,” said Obuya.

He spoke on Friday at Sikh Union Club in Nairobi during the unveiling of a 16-man squad for the tournament.

All the 16 players have been drawn from clubs competing in the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association 50 Overs Super League.

All-rounder Sachin Bhudia (Kanbis Sports Club) was named Kenya’s new captain, replacing bowler Shem Ngoche (Stray Lions Cricket Club).

Nairobi Gymkhana Club’s Lucas Oluoch is the new vice-captain.

Obuya said even though they have not had enough time to train, he expects his top order batsmen to be on top of their game, having boosted that department with the inclusion of Ruaraka Sports Club’s Pushkar Sharma.

During their bilateral series with Nepal at Nairobi Gymkhana Club in August and September, Kenya’s top order batting crumbled early, complicating matters for team.

“The top order batting challenge has been addressed in the sense that we now have new boys coming into the team. We have Pushkar Sharma who will be taking the role of the opening batsman and we have the experienced Collins Obuya who will be partnering him,” said the former Kenya international.

Bhudia said he was happy with his new role, promising to steer the team to victory. “I feel great captaining the nation. The teams we are playing are good but we will give our best so that we can win the tournament,” he said.

Kenya will face St Helena in their opening match of the qualifiers on Thursday next week. Kenya are currently placed 29th with 2699 points in the Men’s ICC T20 ranking that is topped by India with 16,325points.

Nigeria, Malawi, Rwanda, Botswana, Seychelles, Lesotho and Mali are all ranked below Kenya.

Former Kenya internationals Joseph Angara and Steve Tikolo are the coaches of Botswana and Nigeria respectively.

Squad:

Rushabh Patel (Swamibapa Sports Club), Pushkar Sharma (Ruaraka Sports Club), Irfan Karim (Aziz Damani Cricket Club in Uganda), Collins Obuya (Obuya Cricket Academy), Rakep Patel (Kanbis Sports Club), Sukhdeep Singh (Sikh Union Sports Club)

Sachin Bhudia (Kanbis Sports Club), Nelson Odhiambo (Kanbis Sports Club),
Tanzeel Sheikh (Stray Lions Cricket Club), Lucas Oluoch (Nairobi Gymkhana), Shem Ngoche (Stray Lions Cricket Club), Emmanuel Bundi (Kanbis Sports Club), Peter Koech (Swamibapa Sports Club), Vraj Patel (Stray Lions Cricket Club), Eugene Ochieng (Sir Ali Muslim Sports Club) and Vishil Patel 9Ruaraka Sports Club)

Technical bench

David Obuya (Head coach)
Moses Muturi (Physiotherapist/Team Manager)