Gondaria leads Kenya to one-run win over Baroda Cricket Association

Kenya's Batsman Dhiren Gondaria during quadrangular Cricket Tournament at Nairobi Gympkana on Wednesday, Sept 28, 2016. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Dhiren Gondaria smashed a ton as men's national cricket team held the nerve to beat Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) senior select side by one run in a closely contested match yesterday in Vadodara, India.

The 22-year-old Kanbis batsman put up a magnificent show with bat cracking the outside edge 15 times for seven sixes and eight boundaries.

This was a major comeback for Kenya, who lost by four wickets to the BCA under-23 side on Saturday. The Kenyan men now have one buildup match to play against BCA senior select side in preparation for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League Championships (WCLC) clash against hosts Nepal on March 11 and 13.

Coming in as a second stand wicket, Dhiren Gondaria was superb, scoring runs at will, as BCA bowlers applied all tricks in the book to get him off the crease. After two hours and eight minutes of failed attempts, Gurjit Saini finally got Gondaria caught at the 37.2 over with Kenya's scores at 195 for the loss of four wickets. He had scored 118 off 109 at the time of his dismissal.

Former national team skipper Collins Obuya came close to scoring a half century, but fell short by 10 runs. His score of 40 off 42 before Pratik Ghodadra got him caught was good enough to make him Kenya's second best runs scorer of the day.

Wicketkeeper and opening batsman Irfan Karim (20), Nehemiah Odhiambo (22) and Shem Ngoche (11) were the only Kenyans who managed a double digit score.

Saini's brilliance with the ball was constant pain for visiting Kenyans, as he took four wickets for 41. He knew his targets well and hit where it hurt most as he dismissed two of the top order batsmen as well as two from the middle.

Saini dismissed dependable Obanda, who scored a dismal five runs from 12 balls, after 7.2 overs. He then sent off Dhiren Gondaria, current skipper Rakep Patel 4 (11) and Rushabh Patel 5(9).

Pratik Gondaria and Kamran Shaikh took two wickets each, while Abhijit Karambelkar took one. Pratik got Obuya caught by Dhiren Mistry and later caught and bowled Ngoche. Shaikh, on the other hand, trapped Rushabh's leg before Kenya's Elijah Otieno was caught as the visitors settled for 250 all out in 49 overs.

Chasing 251 BCA's Mistry (93) and Arpit Bhatware (49) frustrated Kenyan bowlers as they came close to winning, but were 249 all out with one ball remaining. Nehemiah took three wickets, Ngoche two, while Rakep, Otieno, Lucas Oluoch and Pushpak Kerai dismissed one player each.

Kenya will play the last build-up match tomorrow.

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