Former India and Karnataka pacer Dodda Ganesh on Wednesday confirmed that he’s been appointed as the pinnacle coach of the Kenya males’s cricket workforce for a one-year time period.
Ganesh thanked Cricket Kenya Chairman Manoj Patel, former Kenya workforce analyst Thota Srinivas, and former Kenya captain Steve Tikolo for his appointment.
“It goes again to the time when Karnataka toured Kenya in 2000. I performed effectively that point. I believe they preferred the respect I confirmed for them. When this chance got here up, I instantly took it up since I’ve at all times had a mushy nook for Kenya,” he stated.
He additionally expressed his gratitude to former India cricketer Brijesh Patel, who was the Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Affiliation (KSCA) at the moment. “As a result of the seed for the goodwill (with Kenya) was sown then (when he toured Kenya). After 24 years, it has helped me get this job,” Ganesh, who’s in Nairobi at present, stated over the cellphone.
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He stated that his purpose is “to make Kenya qualify” for the T20 and ODI World Cups. “I wish to take them again to the period after they performed effectively – 1996, 1999, 2003, that period,” he added.
The 51-year-old’s first project because the coach would be the ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup Problem League A, the place Kenya will face Papua New Guinea, Denmark, Kuwait, Jersey, and Qatar. It’s the primary stage of the qualifiers for the 2027 ODI World Cup and is scheduled to happen from September 23 to October 6 in Nairobi.
Following that, Kenya will play Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Gambia within the 2026 ICC Males’s T20 World Cup Africa Sub-regional Qualifier B match, which is to happen from October 17 to 26 in Nairobi.
Ganesh stated he’s planning to make the squad play no less than 20 follow matches earlier than the primary occasion.
“I’m a sensible grasp. I don’t consider in copybook cricket; I consider in open nets. I would like them to get as a lot sensible information as doable, not theoretical information. We now have round 4 weeks. I wish to make them play no less than twenty follow matches.”
Ganesh can have former Kenya gamers Lameck Onyango and Joseph Angara as assistant coaches.