Afghanistan outplayed West Indies to win the World Cup Qualifier trophy in Harare on Sunday. Courtesy ICC
Afghanistan outplayed West Indies to win the World Cup Qualifier trophy in Harare on Sunday. Courtesy ICC

Afghanistan complete remarkable World Cup Qualifier turnaround by thrashing West Indies in final



The team who started the World Cup Qualifier as clear favourites ended up winning it at a canter, in a blaze of sixes. Anybody would have thought the past two weeks have been a breeze for Afghanistan.

Reaching the World Cup might have been a potted path for them. Having finally clinched it by the skin of their teeth against Ireland two days earlier, they were able to play with a new freeness in the ceremonial finale against West Indies.

They beat the Caribbean side with seven wickets and the best part of 10 overs to spare at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

It was their third win over the West Indies in the past month, and was settled in emphatic style when Mohammed Nabi hit three balls in a row from Chris Gayle for six.

Mohammed Shahzad won the match award for an innings of 84 that was expressive to the point of show-boating. At one point, he played an elaborate flick through leg-side, and opted not to bother looking where he had hit the ball.

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“The wicket is always good for batting in the second innings,” Shahzad said. “My job is hitting the ball, the people’s job is to watch the ball, that is why I am not watching the ball.”

The win was the culmination of a remarkable turnaround by the Afghans. They were on the brink of crashing out after losing their first three group-stage matches, only for all the results in the remainder of the competition to go their way.

As he had done when the Afghans were the only side to beat West Indies at the 2016 World Twenty20, Shahzad celebrated using the dance moves to the DJ Bravo song “Champion” made famous at that tournament.

“I love them because they are very good human beings, I have a lot of friends in the West Indies team,” Shahzad said.

“I always enjoy playing with them. Whenever we are playing against anyone, when we take a wicket we celebrate like West Indies players.”

Despite defeat in the final, Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, said his side had achieved the main aim of their mission to Zimbabwe – meaning qualifying for the World Cup.

“Afghanistan played a really good tournament, especially coming from where they were in the group stages,” Holder said.

“I am really proud of our boys. We came out here with a goal in mind. We did half of it, but did not get over the line today.”

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

 

 

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