Rakep half ton goes in vain as Qatar slay Kenya

It is the end of the road for Team Kenya. The hosts will not be able to repeat last weekend’s heroics when they out-muscled Saudi Arabia by six wickets in the final of Four-Nation One Day International Quadrangular Series to win their first title in as many years.

Instead it will be an all-Arab affair between Saudi Arabia and their fast-rising colleagues from the Middle East - Qatar – in the final of the Four-Nation Twenty20 Quadrangular Series at Nairobi Jaffrey’s Ground in Lavington on Friday.

This was after the Pakistani-oriented Qataris beat Kenya by two wickets with two balls to spare in an epic rescheduled clash that was a must-win for either side since it was a virtual semi-final on Thursday.

Despite losing the toss, Kenya’s skipper, Rakep Patel, knocked a quick half century of 54 runs off 40 balls and Rushab Patel opened up his broad shoulders for a little cameo of 28 off 19 as Kenya set 158 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs.

Irfan Karim (19) Collins Obuya (15), Alex Obanda (13) and Nelson Odhiambo (12) were the other batsmen, who got into double figures but never converted as Kenya huffed and puffed in their innings.

LOST CRUCIAL WICKETS

“We had targeted to score between 165 and 170 runs which we felt we would have been much safer, but lost crucial wickets when we needed to increase our score,” admitted Kenya coach Thomas Odoyo in his post-match interview.

Qatar made a speedy reply and were 57 for 2 after 6.3 overs, although they were set back by a double strike from Nelson ‘Mandela’ Odhiambo who had 2 for 3 off just 1.3 overs at a certain stage. 

But Qatar moved up a gear, batting sensibly in the pursuit of the stiff target. The Arabs’ opening pair of Faisal Javed (35), who top scored for his team, gave his team a solid start as he dominated in an opening stand of 47 with Kamran Khan (12). Inam ul Haq (31) and Imran Ashraf (33), too showed they were no rabbits with willow in hand in the middle overs.

But with 30 runs needed from the final three overs at 129/8, Iqbal Hussein (24* off 11) walked in at No.10 and played a gem of an innings, unleashing punishment to 2003 World Cup hero Collins Obuya, whose two overs were pounded for 25,  to put the icing on the cake.

“These guys have skills in Twenty20 games, which they play a lot at their home. Most of them have played good level of cricket in their countries of origin: Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, all cricket crazy nations,” added Odoyo in praise of the opposition.

“We fell short at crucial times. When we needed to step on the gas, we instead lost momentum. We also dropped a catch early on. You cannot get away with lapses in T20.”

With the icing already on the cake for both teams, they will be eager to out-run each other to the finish line and pop the champagne in Friday’s final.