NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 24 – Ahead of the five-match T20 International Series slated to start Thursday at the Nairobi Gymkhana Cricket Grounds, Kenya is targeting to overcome Nepal to improve its rankings.
Speaking on the eve of the match, national men’s team captain Shem Ngoche said a win over Nepal will propel the team upwards in the men’s T20I world rankings.
Kenya is currently ranked 30th while Nepal is sitting 14th and the skipper said his charges are ready for the duel.
“If we win most of the games in this series our ranking will go up in the T20 because they are international T20s, so, for us is to try and win as many games as possible in the five-game series,” Ngoche said.
His counterpart from Nepal Sandeep Lamichhane underscored that despite having a new squad they are up for the task to show the world that their country is a force to reckon with in Cricket.
“After a decade apart, we have a new team and we are ready for the matches. Our target is to win most of our matches. Kenya is a strong side and we will not underrate them, we expect them to come out strongly because they will be at home and have fans,” Lamichhane said.
Kenya head coach David Obuya said despite the team only having one week to rest, they will take it a step at a time.
“The team was given one week to rest to re-energize and they are now focused to face Nepal. We promise Kenyans to expect an entertaining match and a positive result,” Obuya, a former international player underscored.
On his part, Nepal Head Coach revealed that the match is a good exposure for both countries since the series will be broadcasted worldwide, therefore an opportunity for players to be scouted.
“This is going to be continuous (matches between both countries), we also have to go to Nepal and play there and strengthen the relationship between the two countries.”
The two teams last met in November 2013 in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers with Nepal dominating.
