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File photo of Afghanistan cricketers with the World Cup trophy when it toured their country.

Canterbury: A robot here has predicted that Afghanistan will win the cricket World Cup 2015.

Afghanistan are 1000-1 in betting odds to win the tournament and are very much the minnows among the cricketing nations. They are clubbed with Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Sri Lanka in Pool A. (India Hammer Afghanistan In Warm-Up | Highlights)

The prediction was made by University of Canterbury's robot, named Ikram, after viewing the 14 competing countries' flags.

After narrowing the field down to India, the West Indies, Scotland, New Zealand and Afghanistan, the robot decided that Afghanistan would be champions. (Kohli a Big Match Player, Will be Ready for World Cup: Raina)

Eduardo Sandoval, a University of Canterbury HITLab PhD student, has developed the robot's prediction software.

"Of course, this is very unlikely, but with cricket the outcome can always be unexpected," Sandoval was quoted as saying by nzherald.co.nz on Tuesday.

The robot was named after the Mexican-Syrian philosopher Ikram Antaki.

Sandoval said that inspired by Paul the Octopus who made predictions for the 2010 football World Cup, he decided to test Ikram's powers of prediction.

New Zealand are co-hosting the quadrennial tournament with Australia.

Originally posted here:
Afghanistan to Win World Cup, Predicts New Zealand Robot