Minnows Nigeria pulled off the greatest upset in their cricket history as they stunned Kenya by 49 runs in their first warm-up match ahead of the 2019 ICC Twenty20 World Cup Qualifiers at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates.
Chasing 152/7, Kenya were all back in the pavilion with four overs to spare having scored on 103.
The West Africans were clinical with their bowling claiming Kenya top four wickets inside first 30 balls for 25 runs. Alex Obanda was the first depart in the first over for a two-ball duck before Dhiren Gondaria was also sent back to the pavilion on 16 with the board on 19.
Things went from bad to worse when Collins Obuya (4) and Irfan Karim (4) followed suit after facing seven balls each. Rakep Patel (13) steadied the ship but briefly in a 21 runs stand for the fifth wicket with skipper Shem Ngoche (6).
Rookie Jasraj Kundi saved Kenya a huge embarrassment with a crucial 32 off 17 balls that led Kenya to 83 for 7 after 13.3 overs. With his dismissal, Kenya batsmen went through motions to end on 103.
Daniel Ajekum was the chief destroyer of the Kenyan with 4 for 15 from only two overs. Apart from tormenting Kenya’s batting, Ajekum was also the main architect of Nigeria’s batting show with 50 balls 73.
After losing first two wickets for five runs, Nigeria found a morale-boosting stand of 75 for the fourth wicket in 9.1 that got the scores to 113.
While the other batsmen didn’t last long in the middle, Ajekum was able to offer resistance on Kenya’s bowling-hitting nine boundaries and a six. Emmanuel Bundi was Kenya’s top bowlers with 3 for 32.
