Kuwait men’s national squad has been steadily making progress in cricket in the past couple of years and the first sign of them getting serious about things was when the national cricket board appointed ex-South Africa player Herschelle Gibbs as the head coach for their campaign in the Asia sub-regional qualifiers in 2018. The signing and the involvement of Gibbs during the tournament helped the national squad get through the sub-regionals into the regional finals in Malaysia in 2019.
2019 brought in more laurels for the cricket board, as the Kuwait U19 squad qualified for their maiden appearance in the main draw of U19 Asia Cup organized by Asian Cricket Council after the organization decided to include both the finalists from the western region into the main draw. Kuwait U19 thus got the opportunity to play against the likes of India U19, Pakistan U19 and Afghanistan U19 in the group stages of the competition. Although, the team were not able to achieve any wins in the group stages, the opportunity to play against the regional heavyweights was an experience not to be forgotten in a lifetime.
The men’s squad were already continuing on their progress as they qualified from the western region T20 tournament held in Oman to secure their spot in the Asia Cup qualifiers. Kuwait’s only defeats in the tournament came against UAE, who went onto win the tournament. Although the Asia Cup qualifiers event has been postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic, Kuwait will get to play against UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong for a spot in the main draw of Asia Cup.
Kuwait women’s squad were one of the Associate member teams, who played T20I matches during the beginning of 2020 before the pandemic lockdowns globally, as they travelled to Qatar to play against the host’s and Oman , after China pulled out of the tournament. Kuwait women have taken part in Women’s T20 World Cup Asian regional qualifiers in 2018 as well in Thailand and the cricket board is investing heavily in the women’s game to improve their global rankings and get more participating throughout the country.
Kuwait’s men’s and women’s national squads have already began their fitness, agility and running training sessions under the watchful eyes of senior Women’s coach Ghayour Ahmed and men’s national squad head coach Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, who is also overseeing the training sessions for the U19 squad. While the men’s squad and women’s squad will be taking part in the respective qualifiers of Asia Cup tournament, the U19 squad will be playing the main event of U19 Asia Cup, which is currently scheduled to take place in UAE in Nov 2020 (subject to confirmation due to COVID-19 pandemic). Even the women’s Asia Cup qualifiers, due to be hosted by Malaysia is not yet confirmed and will be announced shortly if it will take place as scheduled.
