If cricket had a format called “Fraud Twenty20,” Cricket Kenya would already be lifting trophies. Forget batting averages or bowling economies, the only thing this board measures is how fast it can announce something, loot the gullible, and then perform a U-turn faster than a matatu driver dodging Nairobi traffic.
The Art of Fooling People
Cricket Kenya has perfected an ancient art: how to rob people of their money and hopes at the same time. It’s a talent, really. First, you call a press conference, roll out some fancy banners, and hire a few event managers. You throw around words like “franchise league,” “millions of dollars,” and “biggest tournament in Africa.”
Fans cheer. Players start dreaming. Sponsors sign cheques.
And then… poof! The same board that announced the grand project suddenly declares, “We never sanctioned this.” Just like that, the league is dead, and everyone else is left staring at empty wallets.
This isn’t administration. This is daylight robbery with microphones.
The Kenya Blaster League: Boom and Bust
Take August 2024. Cricket Kenya tied up with SA Event Worx to launch the Kenya Blaster League (KBL). It was supposed to be Kenya’s IPL moment. Manoj Patel, then-chairman, stood on stage smiling like he’d just discovered oil. Hemant Sharma from SA Event Worx signed the dotted lines. The cameras flashed, the speeches flowed, and cricket lovers dared to hope.
But just weeks later, Cricket Kenya denied it had anything to do with the KBL. “What league? Never heard of it,” they claimed, while Patel, the man who literally announced it, was thrown out of office like yesterday’s trash.
SA Event Worx, financially and reputationally hammered, had no choice but to head to court. Meanwhile, Cricket Kenya quietly dusted off its hands, pretending it had been “misunderstood.”
Translation: We got the money, now go cry somewhere else.
The CKT20 League: Same Scam, New Poster
A normal organization would learn from one humiliation. Cricket Kenya, however, thrives on humiliation; it’s their business model.
So in 2025, while still facing lawsuits from the KBL fiasco, they decided to launch the Cricket Kenya T20 League (CKT20) with AOS Sport Tournaments.
This time, the promises were bigger: $2 million investment, glitzy franchises, and a five-year deal. The launch party was so flashy it looked like a Bollywood award show. They even dragged Kenya’s 2003 cricket legends onto the stage (poor guys, still being used as props decades later).
Sponsors signed up. Players got excited. Fans thought, “Surely they won’t do this again?”
But of course, they did.
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Weeks before the league’s start, Cricket Kenya performed another U-turn, declaring the CKT20 “unsanctioned.” The same board whose officials had shaken hands, signed contracts, and smiled for photographs now insisted they had been “misrepresented.”
By now, it was less a cricket board and more a traveling scam circus.
The Sacrificial Lambs: Patel and Ganesh
No scam is complete without scapegoats. Cricket Kenya excels here, too.
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Manoj Patel was sacked after the KBL fiasco, framed as the man responsible, even though the whole board was in on it. Classic move: blame one guy, kick him out, and continue business as usual.
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Dodda Ganesh, unveiled as Kenya’s head coach in August 2024, lasted about a month before being fired for “procedural irregularities.” Translation: we made promises, we don’t want to keep them, now get lost.
It’s like a soap opera: announce, deny, fire someone, repeat.
Loot in Broad Daylight
What’s really happening here is simple:
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Announce a league → collect investments and goodwill.
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Deny involvement → wash hands clean.
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Throw one or two people under the bus → show “action” taken.
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Walk away with the money → prepare the next announcement.
It’s a rinse-and-repeat fraud cycle. Players lose opportunities, sponsors lose money, and fans lose faith. But Cricket Kenya? They keep cashing in.
Kenya’s New National Sport: The U-Turn
At this point, Kenya’s real national sport isn’t cricket, it’s the U-turn.
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Announce a league. U-turn.
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Hire a coach. U-turn.
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Back a chairman. U-turn.
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Promise transparency. U-turn.
If Formula 1 teams want lessons in cornering, they should stop in Nairobi. Nobody turns faster than Cricket Kenya.
Final Over
Cricket Kenya isn’t just mismanaging a sport; it’s looting it. They’ve turned dreams into scams, coaches into pawns, and fans into fools. Every league announcement is just another bait-and-switch, designed to milk money before the inevitable denial.
If cricket boards were judged not by trophies but by their ability to betray, Cricket Kenya would be the undisputed world champion.
Until then, Kenyan fans can prepare for the next grand announcement, another league, another promise, another lie. And when the inevitable U-turn comes, at least they’ll know: it’s the only thing Cricket Kenya does consistently well.
ALSO READ: Exposing Cricket Kenya: Power, Corruption, And Lost Glory
