Kenyan team lose opening match of Indian tour

The visiting Kenyan team lost the opening match of their fortnight long tour of India when they went down by two wickets to Tata Sports Club at ELF Vengsarkar Sports Club ground in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Winning the toss and opting to bat, Kenya were restricted to 196 for seven in 50 overs. They actually lost five wickets for 75 runs before Steve Tikolo, with the help of the later order batsmen, effected a recovery. Tikolo added 41 runs for the sixth wicket off nine overs with skipper Maurice Odumbe (22). Then with wicketkeeper David Obuya (20) he increased the score by 52 runs during a seventh wicket association that lasted 11.3 overs. Finally with Martin Suji (21 not out off 14 balls) Tikolo added 28 runs for the unbroken eighth wicket off only three overs. Tikolo remained unbeaten with 66 off 80 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. For Tata SC, SP Hazare took two wickets for 37 runs off eight overs. There were three run outs.

Martin Suji rocked Tata SC on their heels by removing openers VR Mane and skipper MV Joglekar in successive overs with only two runs on the board. But Kiran Powar (62) and Susanth Manjrekar (51) initiated a recovery process by adding 104 runs off 21 overs for the third wicket. While Powar played 79 balls and hit ten of them to the ropes, Manjrekar was equally aggressive hitting five fours and three sixes off 74 balls.

Shreyas Khanolkar (30) and NS Shetty (17) carried on the good work and Tata SC seemed to be cruising along at 155 for four in the 37th over. But Kenya put up a last ditch fight. Odumbe dismissed both Khanolkar and Shetty while Suji came back to get rid of SB Dahad for a duck. Tikolo then removed YV Kaudhare (8) at 187 to give Kenya a chance of victory. However wicketkeeper Abhijit Shetye (8) and S Kannan (6) steered Tata SC home with ten deliveries to spare. Suji finished with three for 29 from ten overs.

Kenya will play six more matches on their tour. Their next encounter is a two day game against Maharashtra XI at Pune from April 21.