NAIROBI, Kenya, October 22 – Kenya intensified their push for a place at the 2026 T20 Cricket World Cup by thrashing Gambia by 129 runs in the Africa Sub-regional B qualifiers at the Nairobi Gymkhana on Tuesday afternoon.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat, with opening batsman Pushkar Sharma racking up 43 runs off 34 balls before he was bowled out by Andre Jarju.
Rakep Patel, one of Kenya’s star players at last month’s CWC Cricket League, then mustered 63 runs from 40 balls – following on from Sachin Gill’s 21 runs off 15 balls.
The next Kenyan to post double digits – following Patel’s dismissal by Jarju – was Irfan Karim who amassed 18 runs off 17 balls as the hosts totaled 175 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs.
Chasing a target of 176 runs in 20 overs, the West Africans couldn’t have started any worse with opening batter Jarju falling to the wicket of Gerard Mwendwa, having racked up only four runs from 16 balls.
Mwendwa proved to be the Gambians’ destroyer-in-chief, claiming four more wickets including that of Arjunsingh Rajpurohit, Abubacarr Kuyateh, Frank Campbell and Basiru Jaye.
The Gambians could only muster 46 runs in 12.4 overs to remain rooted at the bottom of the round-robin tournament.
For Kenya, the win cements their second place in the standings with six points, having won their previous matches against Mozambique and Rwanda.
Tournament favourites Zimbabwe beat Rwanda by 149 runs in an earlier match at the same venue to maintain their place atop the standings.
The top two finishers in the tourney will proceed to the continental qualifiers set for next year.
Consequently, top two teams at the continental competition will qualify for the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
