Poor Kenya drop second game in Pearl Africa T20 Series

The Kenyan men’s cricket team dropped their second game of the 2025 Pearl of Africa T20 Series after going down to neighbors Uganda by 28 runs at the Entebbe Cricket Oval.

Kenya came into the game with a hope of stemming a wretched record against the hosts, only for them to repeat the scenes of their defeat three days before against the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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Ugandan skipper Juma Miyagi won the afternoon toss and elected to bat, offering his team a platform to pour in 157 runs for just the loss of five wickets.

Kenya’s response was unconvincing, however, as the visitors lost three wickets in the first four overs before limping to a paltry score of 129-7.

Kenya’s skipper, Dhiren Gondaria, on Friday, 18 Jul, was incensed by his team’s bowling in their second match of the invitational series and seemed to hint that a two-day rest would help fix a few things.

The slight time off did not seem to help issues, as Uganda, despite losing opener Ronald Lutaaya early on with a duck, steadied their progress, with the majority of their batsmen putting up double figures.

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Much of Kenya’s damage was inflicted by the duo of 38-year-old Raghav Dhawan (41 off 39 balls) and Robinson Obuya (40 off 48 balls), who partnered expertly to see the Cranes get their total into three figures.

A late blitz by Miyagi (19 from eight balls) and Dinesh Nakrani (24 off 14 balls) added insult to the injury, as Kenya labored to find the stumps.

Having been set such a high total, Lameck Onyango’s side needed a proper innings from his openers, but their resolve was found to be lacking once again as they were all dismissed inside four overs, and with a combined score of seven.

Captain Gondaria was the first to go off after being bowled out by Frank Nsubuga, before his replacement, Tanzeel Sheikh, was trapped lbw by the 44-year-old.

Pushkar Sharma’s dismissal was down to the same bowler, whose efforts of 3/10 deservedly earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Former captain Rakep Patel did his best to reel the Ugandans in, but his impressive total of 58 was still not enough to save Kenya’s blushes.

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Out of the last eleven head-to-head contests between the two nations, Kenya has won once, and the much-promised hope of a new day is still in waiting.

Kenya returns to the same field on Tuesday, 22 July afternoon, where Namibia awaits.