ICC T20 Qualifiers: Kenya Defeats Gambia By 129 Runs

Gerard Mwendwa stars as he leads Kenya to victory

Kenya secured the second position in the standing table / Getty Images.

By Caroline Chepkorir

At the Nairobi Gymkhana Club Ground, Kenya defeated Gambia by 129 runs in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier B. Kenya won after the outstanding 5/7 efforts of right-handed all-rounder Gerard Mwendwa. Kenya now has a chance to go to the tournament thanks to this victory.

Currently, Kenya secured the second spot on the Subregional Qualifier B table with six points, after they had won their previous matches against Mozambique and Rwanda. Gambia missed the first two matches of the tournament; that was the match against Rwanda and the Seychelles because they arrived late.

Kenya won the toss and chose to bat first; unfortunately, they had a rough start as the 29-year-old Neil Mugabe was out on the first ball. Pushkar Sharma, who scored 43 runs off of 34 balls, was aggressive and solidified their innings.

Rakep Patel took charge, and he knocked a brilliant 63 off 40 deliveries, which included four boundaries and four sixes. Irfan Karim smashed 18 off 17 balls. The Kenya scoreboard was at 175/9 in the 20 overs at the end of the powerplay.

Gambia responded by chasing the competitive total. Andre Jarju was bowled out for four by Gerard Mwendwa. The Gambia batsmen were cheaply removed because they failed to put up a good fight for the team. Frank Campbell, Arjunsingh Rajpurohit, Abubacarr Kuyateh, Basiru Jaye, and Ismaila Tamba were among the batters. Gambia fell short as they were restricted to a total of 46 runs in 12.4 overs.

In the Africa Sub Regional Qualifiers B, Zimbabwe is ranked the first on the table courtesy of their run rate. The Africa Regional qualifier will be next year, and the top two teams in the Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier will compete. Hence, the top two teams at the Africa Regional Qualifier will qualify for the World Cup that will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India.

“Gerard Mwendwa’s 5-wicket haul carries Kenya to a 129-run win against Gambia, making it three wins in a row,” posted ICC Africa on their X account.