:Cricket World Cup 2015: Afghanistan Qualify for world Cup

Afghanistan beat Kenya by seven wickets, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, to earn automatic qualification to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Chasing a meagre 94, after the Kenyans were dismissed in 43.3 overs, Afghanistan went through several anxious moments but were home with 175 deliveries to spare.
Afghanistan lost Mohammad Shahzad (1), Asghar Stanikzai (9) and  Nawroz Mangal (19) cheaply and were reduced to 34 for 3 in the 11th over. But steady batting by Mohammad Nabi (46 not out ) and Hashmatulla Shaidi (13 not out), who put on 62 runs for the fourth wicket, saw them through at 96 for 3 in 20.5 overs.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Hamza Hotak was the pick of the Afghanistan bowlers, finishing with figures of 10-1-19-3.
After 55 matches in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championship, spanning just over two years, Afghanistan won the last match in the league to join Ireland in qualifying for the cricket's biggest spectacle for the first time.
Had Kenya won the match, then the UAE would have made the grade.
Ireland and Afghanistan placed  first and second with 24 and 19 points respectively in the World Cricket League Championship points table.
The bottom six sides -- UAE (18 points),  the Netherlands (18), Scotland (15), Kenya (10), Namibia (4) and Canada (4) -- along with Hong Kong, Nepal, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Uganda get another chance to qualify when they participate in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2014 that will be staged in New Zealand in January/February 2014.
Afghanistan will be in Pool A of the tournament -- to be staged in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29 -- alongside four-time champions Australia and co-host New Zealand, as well as Bangladesh, England and Sri Lanka. Qualifier 4, also part of Pool A, will be confirmed in February next year, during the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier New Zealand 2014.
Pool B comprises South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Qualifier 4.
Scorecard
Kenya
IA Karim lbw b Karim Sadiq 3
Gurdeep Singh b Mohammad Nabi 1
M Ouma run out (Samiullah Shenwari) 39
C Obuya b Karim Sadiq 1
R Patel b Hamza Hotak 18
D Gondaria c Hashmatullah Shaidi b Mohammad Nabi 6
R Aga b Hamza Hotak 6
N Odhiambo c & b Hamza Hotak 0
N Odhiambo b Hamid Hassan 2
H Varaiya b Hamid Hassan 0
S Ngoche not out 5
Extras: (b 2, lb 1, w 9) 12
Total: (in 43.3 overs) 93
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-7, 3-16, 4-69, 5-70, 6-79, 7-81, 8-86, 9-86, 10-93
Bowling: Hamid Hassan 7-3-11-2(3w), Shapoor Zadran 5-1-9-0, Karim Sadiq 7-2-10-2(2w), Mohammad Nabi 8.3-4-10-2(1w), Hamza Hotak 10-1-19-3, Rahmat Shah 2-0-14-0, Samiullah Shenwari 4-0-17-0(1w).
Afghanistan
Mohammad Shahzad c Gondaria b Aga 1
Nawroz Mangal lbw b Ngoche 19
Asghar Stanikzai b Ngoche 9
Mohammad Nabi not out 46
Hashmatullah Shaidi not out 13
Extras: (b 2, lb 1, w 5) 8
Total: (for 3 wickets) 96
Did not bat: Karim Sadiq, Shapoor Zadran, Hamid Hassan, Samiullah Shenwari, Rahmat Shah, Hamza Hotak
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-33, 3-34
Bowling: N Odhiambo 5-0-16-0, R Aga 3-0-6-1(1w), H Varaiya 7-0-36-0(1w), S Ngoche 4.5-0-30-2, R Patel 1-0-5-0.

Trapped between a friend and a twin brother

India's decision to underwrite and, in effect, guarantee Hamid Karzai's feeble Afghan government is not wholly lacking in logic. In a strategic pact signed this week, the two countries pledged to co-operate on trade and counter-terrorism, and Delhi agreed to train and equip Afghan security forces. With US and NATO forces edging towards the exit in 2014, it follows that Delhi, the region's military and economic heavyweight and an aspiring superpower, should take up the strategic slack. But that is not how Pakistan or the Taliban will see the newly announced bilateral security, political and commercial ''partnership''. India may yet pay heavily for its presumption.

India's role, or ''meddling'', in Afghanistan is already viewed with enormous suspicion in Islamabad, which nurtures a visceral fear of encirclement arising from its bruising, losing wars with its southern neighbour. Pakistan privately regards Afghanistan as its own backyard, and is widely believed to fund and collude with terrorist groups in order to maintain its influence and keep the Kabul government weak.

''Pakistan has pursued a double game toward Afghanistan, and using terrorism as a means continues,'' Karzai complained this week before travelling to India. Pakistan - or at least elements of its security services - has been accused by Kabul of complicity in last month's murder of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president and peace talks negotiator.
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India, meanwhile, has detected Pakistan's hand in the bombing of its Kabul embassy in 2008 and 2009, as well as terrorist attacks on Indian soil. Pakistan denies all the allegations.

Demonstrating that he, too, can play both sides against the middle, Karzai offered reassurances that the partnership deal with India was not aimed at Islamabad. ''Pakistan is a twin brother, India is a great friend. The agreement that we signed yesterday with our friend will not affect our brother … the signing of the strategic partnership with India is not directed against any country. It is not directed against any other entity,'' he said.

Karzai's sudden attack of tact is not born of bonhomie. It reflects the political reality that a lasting settlement in Afghanistan is impossible without Pakistan's agreement, or at least acquiescence. Karzai's attempt to sweeten the pill may also reflect his desire to keep open the possibility of a negotiated settlement with the many-headed Taliban despite the continuing insurgent violence. The Taliban will not have forgotten India's backing of the non-Pashtun Northern Alliance in the 1990s, which eventually swept them from power in 2001 with US help. The idea of India playing an enhanced security role inside Afghanistan, as agreed in Delhi this week, is thus likely to be rejected by them as more unwelcome foreign interference. Karzai noted bitterly last week that if peace were ever to come to Afghanistan, his government needed to talk to Pakistan, not India or the US.

India has been expanding its involvement in Afghanistan since 2001, opening provincial consulates, embarking on infrastructure programs, and donating about $US2 billion in bilateral aid. But this week's agreement represents a substantial and risky increased commitment. Nobody in Delhi is talking about Indian troops or security forces on the ground in Afghanistan. But the Afghan forces training role India has accepted marks it out as NATO's successor, and potentially a target for insurgent wrath.

Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, seemed to brush aside such concerns when he met Karzai. ''India will stand by the people of Afghanistan as they prepare to assume responsibility for governance and security after the withdrawal of international forces in 2014,'' Singh said. These are fateful words. They may come back to haunt the Indians.

India's leaders one day may come to rue their vainglorious generosity in picking up the hot potato that the US, Britain and the rest all gingerly dropped. It seems a high price to pay for outflanking Pakistan.