Alex Obanda

Back in 1975, a cricket club was a means for the Maninagar Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan community to blend into the Kenyan community. No one imagined that the club formed under the stewardship of its then spiritual leader, Muktajivan Swamibapa, would turn out to be a nursery for Kenyan national cricket players.

Kenya will be hoping overtake the Netherlands in Group B clash when they take on Peter Borren's side on Thursday at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand.

Parthiv Patel plundered a quick hundred on Sunday to give the visiting India A side a comfortable lead of 108 runs over Kenya in the opening three-day match.

Going by the strength of the teams, Asia should win the Afro-Asia Twenty20 match hands down.

Zimbabwe all-rounder Elton Chigumbura scored 79 and claimed two wickets to lead his team to a 109-run win over Kenya in the first of a five-match limited-overs series.

When Swaminarayan sect went to Kenya and wanted to blend with the local community, it was cricket that built bridges between people there.But that what was in 1975.

While, Yuvraj's scintillating display in the inaugural T20 WC, especially his six sixes off a Stuart Broad over, got him a nomination for the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year category.