Kenya smashed by UAE in first Pearl Africa T20 Series defeat

Kenya men’s national cricket team suffered their first defeat of the 2025 Pearl of Africa T20 Series after going down to United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Entebbe Cricket Oval on Friday, 18 July.

Lamech Onyango’s side, who opened their campaign with an 18-run victory over Nigeria, found it tough against the tournament’s highest ranked side as they lost by a mammoth 40 runs.

Follow Our WhatsApp Channel For More News

UAE, ranked 13th in the world, won the afternoon toss and opted to bat on a favourable wicket, scoring 161 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.

Kenya, in response, struggled to pile the numbers, and were bowled out for just 121 runs in the same number of overs, bringing them back to earth after the joy of a narrow escape a day earlier.

Kenya kick off Pearl Africa T20 Series with win over Nigeria

Man-of-the-match Rahul Chopra was the tormentor-in-chief of a poor Kenyan side, as he scored an unbeaten half-century to help UAE reach their pre-match target of over 160 runs.

The 30-year-old, came in at number four with the scores inside the sixth over at 48-1, and found a way to establish a brilliant 57-run partnership with fellow batsman Alishan Sharafu, who scored a 34-ball 37 that took the scores up to 104-3.

In contrast to Thursday’s performance, Kenya’s bowling and fielding was too expensive, and middle-order batsman Ethan D’Souza took full advantage of a decent Emirati first-innings to score his own 20 runs.

Kenya’s response in the second-innings was abysmal, as it only took till the second over for its spine - the openers - to be separated, Pushkar Sharma caught out by the bowling of Ali Haider.

Skipper Dhiren Gondaria, who scored 45 off 42 balls, did his best to build on the scores, but could find help in either Tanzeel Sheikh, Rakep Patel or Sachin Gill in the first nine overs.

Third time lucky? NOC-K announce new date for long-awaited elections

Jaraj Kundi (14), Vishil Patel (10), and wicket-keeper Sukhdeep Singh (19), were the only other Kenyan men in double-figures, their total ending up not enough to cover a tail that literally fell flat on its face.

“Our bowling probably cost us this game,” Gondaria said post-game. “Our bad balls were all punished by the opposition, but I liked the variations.”

Kenya will have two days to fix things up, before returning to the same field on Monday, 21 July against hosts Uganda at 1430 EAT.

Uganda, in Friday’s early kickoff, overcame Nigeria by 77 runs (DLS).