Kenya captain Dhiren Gondaria has assured that the country will bounce back following the conclusion of the three-legged ICC Challenge League A circuit at the Nairobi Gymkhana at the weekend, which was a pathway to the 2027 World Cup qualifier.
Despite flooring Denmark by 103 runs in their opening fixture earlier last week and beating Papua New Guinea (PNG) by 88 runs in their final battle on Saturday evening, Kenya ended the high-profile circuit- staged in Nairobi, UK, Jersey and back to Nairobi- at the bottom of the table.
“We were already fifth headed to the final round. Also, going down against Qatar broke our spirit and momentum. We never bounced back until our final match with PNG, which we finished on a high. It is always good to finish on a high,” Gondaria told Standard Sports.
The skipper hailed the performance of Francis Mutua, who bagged the Man Of The Match award against PNG, stating the former is a talent ready to steer the national team to greater heights in the future.
Despite the lacklustre performance, Gondaria said Kenyan players had lots of positives to take home from the tournament.
“We are going to capitalise on the lessons learnt to better our prospects in the future tournaments. We are going to instil confidence to better our results in coming competitions,” noted Gondaria.
Gondaria, who hailed the performance of newcomers in the Kenyan squad, said the team’s focus now is on the forthcoming Africa T20 Qualifiers finals, which are a pathway to the 2028 ICC T20 World Cup qualification.
Meanwhile, Cricket Kenya (CK) has praised Gondaria and his teammates for putting up a show against Denmark and PNG in the just-concluded tournament at the Nairobi Gymkhana.
“The team proceeded to the showdown without exposure and what they did was commendable,” CK Chairman Bhavesh Gohil said.
Gohil indicated that plans are underway to give the men and women’s national teams adequate playing time, especially in the 50-over format, through bilateral series.
“The 50 overs is a different ball game. Our boys have potential to be lethal in the format if granted enough exposure. We will strive to put our house in order,” said Gohil.
On ICC awarding Kenya the rights to host the Challenge League after Qatar backed off, Gohil said that is a mark of faith from the cricket global governing body.
“It shows ICC has confidence in our infrastructure, including the new leadership that has taken over the office.
“There is a lot now in store for our teams- both the national and the U19 sides. We are already receiving requests from countries like Norway, Austria, Kuwait and UAE to play bilateral series with them,” Gohil said.
The chairman said CK is now in the process of establishing a women’s league to help revive the women’s game in the country.
