Former Indian all-rounder Dodda Ganesh appointed Kenyan cricket team's head coach

Nairobi: Former Indian all-rounder Dodda Ganesh has been appointed head coach of Kenya's men's cricket team ahead of the Africa Qualifiers for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Ganesh, 51, who played four Tests and an ODI without much success but did alright in first-class cricket scoring over 2000 runs and taking 365 wickets for Karnataka, will have the unenviable task of bringing back the glory days of Kenyan cricket when it competed in five World Cups between 1996 and 2011.

The best-ever finish of the Associate Member was in 2003 when it reached the semifinals in South Africa with an Indian head coach in Sandeep Patil.

Kenya have qualified for just one edition of the T20 World Cup, which was back in 2007.

Since then, Kenyan cricket has gone into a downward spiral. They will face Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Denmark and Jersey in the ICC Division 2 Challenge League in September and T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers in October.

The men's 2026 T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

Ganesh said he is looking forward to the new role.

"Privileged to be named the head coach of the Kenya cricket team," the former India cricketer posted on 'X'.

In a video shared by the media here, Ganesh can be seen interacting with senior Kenya cricket officials.

Ganesh will be assisted by former Kenyan internationals Lameck Onyango and Joseph Angara, who will be his deputies.