• Ngoche, who has been a member of the team for over a decade, didn’t win the selectors’ confidence this time around neither was Emmanuel Bundi.
• Kanbis duo of Rakep Patel and Dhiren Gondaria will once again lead the batting lineup.
Image: FILE
Collins Obuya returned to the national cricket team while veteran Nehemiah Ngoche was shown the door as Cricket Kenya unveiled a 14-man squad for this week’s ICC World Cup Qualifier in Kampala, Uganda.
The former skipper’s return comes as a surprise having pulled out of the Oman trip for the ICC World League Division 3 in November last year at the 11th hour.
Before his sudden decision to ‘desert’ the team, Obuya had been reappointed captain by the Cricket Kenya Interim Committee, which was then running cricket affairs in the country.
In an interview, Obuya was evasive, simply saying he had pressing personal commitments in Nairobi then. His exit forced CK to include Kanbis’ batsman Narendra Kalyan. Ngoche, who has been a member of the team for over a decade, didn’t win the selectors’ confidence this time around neither was Emmanuel Bundi.
Other players, who returned into the squad are Kongonis duo of Elijah Otieno and Eugene Ochieng. The two-seam bowlers have been in the cold for a while due to poor form. Former U-19 all-rounder, Jasraj Kundi, was the other shocking inclusion in the team.
Kundi scored 55 runs from five innings and bagged 3 wickets in the U19 World Cup held in New Zealand. With Ngoche and Emmanuel Bundi dropped, Otieno, Nelson Odhiambo and Lucas Oluoch will be tasked with the new ball.
Kanbis duo of Rakep Patel and Dhiren Gondaria will once again lead the batting lineup with Alex Obanda expected to get his form back in the tournament that has brought together six teams.
The other batsmen in the side are Irfan Karim and under-performing Rushab Patel. Kanbis’ Sachin Bhudia and Pushpak Kerai were also included in the team that leaves the country on tomorrow. The event has also attracted— host Uganda, Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria and hosts Uganda.
The top two nations will secure a place in the ICC men’s T20 World Cup qualifier later this year —which is a step away from the T20 World Cup-proper scheduled for Australia. The Africa final qualifiers will join Papua New Guinea, UAE, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Oman, Scotland and Zimbabwe in the global qualifier, which takes place between October 11 and November 3, 2019.
Squad: Shem Obado, Irfan Karim, Alex Obanda, Dhiren Gondaria, Rakep Patel, Collins Obuya, Nelson Odhiambo, Sachin Bhudia, Lucas Oluoch, Eugene Ochieng, Elijah Otieno, Jasraj Kundi, Pushpak Kerai, Rushab Patel.