Cricket: Pushkar Sharma returns for World Cup qualifiers
Kongonis Cricket Club's Emmanuel Bundi celebrates bowl out during their friendly match against Marylebone Cricket Club at Nairobi Club on November 4, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The team is coached by former Kenya internationals Lamcek Onyango and Joseph Angara, who is the assistant coach.
- The team is expected to fly out for the competition on November 20.
Cricket Kenya (CK) selection panel on Tuesday named a strong 15-man final squad for the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Africa qualifiers planned for November 22 to 30 in Namibia.
Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the hosts are the other teams that will feature in the competition that will be held in a round robin format.
The top two teams in the event will progress to the World Cup that has tentatively been planned for June 4 to 30 in the United States of America and West Indies.
Indian-born Kenyan Pushkar Sharma has made a return to the squad. After three years of anxious waiting, Sharma, 23, made his national team debut in the Sub-Regional Africa “A” qualifiers of the upcoming global championship that was held in November last year in Kigali, Rwanda which Kenya won.
Sharma, who plays locally for Ruaraka Cricket Club “A”, was not part of the squad that featured in the Continent Cup Twenty20 International (T20I) Africa competition held at Nairobi Gymkhana in June.
Sharma’s inclusion in the squad is attributed to his top performance in the 2023 Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) Super Division 50 Overs League, finishing as the league’s second best batsman with a massive 730 runs.
Only Shubham Jadhav of Stray Lions Cricket Club “A” scored more runs than him at 966 runs.
Other notable inclusions in the squad are evergreen all-rounder Collins Obuya, teenager Vishil Patel and top bowler Vraj Patel.
At 42, Obuya has continued to defy his age with the bat, while Vishil Patel led the national men’s junior team to a second place finish in the 2024 ICC Under-19 Men’s World Cup Africa Division One qualifiers in Dar-es-Salaam.
Vraj Patel was the top bowler in the 2023 NPCA Super Division 50 Overs League with 31 wickets for Swamibapa Cricket Club “A”.
A provisional squad has since early August been training for the World Cup qualifiers at Ruaraka Cricket Club Grounds.
The team is coached by former Kenya internationals Lamcek Onyango and Joseph Angara, who is the assistant coach.
The team is expected to fly out for the competition on November 20.
SQUAD
Collin Obuya, Rushab Patel, Irfan Karim, Rakep Patel (captain), Sachin Bhudia, Nelson Odhiambo, Lucas Oluoch, Emmanuel Bundi, Shem Ngoche, Vraj Patel, Francis Mutua, Gerald mwendwa, Pushkar Sharma, Vishil Patel, Sukhdeep Sign
Reserves
Peter Koech
