Pakistan down Kenya u19s at Gymkhana: A dominant batting display by tourists saw them beat hosts by 139 runs in the first of five One Dayers

Cricket Kenya Chairperson Jackie Janmohamed, left, Captain Pakistani Cricket U19 Team Saud Shakeel and Pakistan Ambassador to Kenya Rafiuzzaman Jiddigui during a press conference for the preparations for Africa 119 qualifier for the World Cup at Nairobi Gymkana on Friday, November 5th, 2014. Photo/Jonah Onyango.

A dominant batting display by Pakistan U-19 saw them beat hosts Kenya by 139 runs in the first of five One Day matches at the Nairobi Gymkhana yesterday.

The visitors, inspired by 88 runs off 89 by Man of the Match Shaheed Khan, scored 290 runs for the loss of 9 wickets before bowling Kenya out for 151 in 44.2 overs.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Pakistan got onto the front foot with Zeeshan Malik and Sajawal Riaz putting 41 runs on the board in six overs. Malik was the first to fall on 21 runs after being bowled by Sachin Bhudia.

Pakistan skipper Saud Shakeel came in to push Riaz but he fell on 11 runs to Bhudia's delivery that he sent to Mohammed Kalyan. Riaz was the next to fall when he was bowled by Paramveer Singh when they had 78 runs on the board after 14.5 overs.

Singh got his second wicket when Aqib Javed nicked the ball to Kenya's wicket keeper Kavi Dosaja to leave Pakistan at 92/4.

A 137-run fifth wicket stand of Imran Rafiq and Shaheed Khan that lasted 1 ball short of 26 overs pushed the score to 229 before Khan (88) fell to a Snehal Gajaparia ball that was caught by Singh.

Khan's 88 came of 89 balls and included 6 boundaries that earned him the Man of the Match award. Rafik fell one over later on 66 off 100 to grant Gajaparia his second wicket.

Gajaparia got his hat trick on 47.2 overs when he bowled Shahbaz Javed and followed it with the dismissal of Shahabul Khan for a duck a ball later. His fifth came in the last over when he claimed the scalp of Ahmed Bashir.

Awais Iqbal and Saif Ali pushed the innings to the end to give the visitors a total of 290 runs for the loss of nine.

Snehil Gajaparia was the pick of the Kenyan bowlers with 5 for 49 off 10 overs. Singh and Bhudia took two wickets each.

In reply, Kenya got to a slow start and lost Kavi Dosaja to a run out by Awais Iqbal in the first over. Kenya captain Gurdeep Singh was caught behind by Shahbaz Javed off Bashir.

Kenya, with a run rate of 3, struggled against the superior bowling and lost Rahul Seedhar, Shyam RabadiaAtharva and Dennis Musyoka to leave them reeling at 85 for 6 in 28.4 overs.

Mohammed Kalyan came in and steadied the Kenyan innings with a team best of 44 from 54 balls before he fell in the 40th over. Bhudia and Gajaparia put in a tenth wicket stand of 25 before Bhudia fell to Iqbal.

Saud Shakeel topped the Pakistan bowling with 3 for 38. Saif Ali Ghuri took 2 wickets while Ahmed Bashir, Shahabul Khan, and Awais Iqbal had one each.

The second of five matches is at Nairobi Gymkhana today.

Speaking after the match, Kenya U-19 coach Thomas Odoyo said he was happy with his side's performance against the highly rated Pakistani side. "We were able to contain their batting for the first twenty overs before they put in the 137-run stand," Odoyo said.

"However, we must work hard on our batting which is our weak point but overall this is the first time my boys are facing this kind of opposition and I hope they have learnt from it."

Pakistan coach Javed Hayat was happy with the resulta and the state of the Nairobi Gymkhana grounds. "We are a development side working towards the 2016 under 19 World Cup. So a match like this will help us play in different conditions."