Afghanistan Premier League

The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) (Pashto: د افغانستان غوره لیګ; Persian: لیگ برتر افغانستان), officially Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 cricket franchise tournament run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), held in the United Arab Emirates.[1][2] The first edition of the tournament took place between 5 and 21 October 2018 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium,[3] with up to forty overseas players involved.[4][5] Five teams have been selected to compete, named after regions of Afghanistan.[6] In August 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) approved plans for the tournament.[7]

Afghanistan Premier League
CountriesAfghanistan
AdministratorAfghanistan Cricket Board
FormatTwenty20
First edition2018
Latest edition2018
Tournament formatDouble round-robin and Knockout
Number of teams5
Current championBalkh Legends (1st title)
Most successfulBalkh Legends (1 title)
Most runsMohammad Shahzad (344)
Most wicketsIsuru Udana (17)
TVList of broadcasters
Websiteaplt20.tv

History

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The Afghanistan Cricket Board have said that they are planning to re-launch the Afghanistan Premier League, country's franchise-based T20 tournament that was postponed after the inaugural edition, in 2025.[8]

Teams

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Team City Region Debut Coach Captain
Balkh Legends Mazar-i-Sharif North 2018   Simon Helmot   Mohammad Nabi
Kabul Zwanan Kabul Central 2018   Heath Streak   Rashid Khan
Kandahar Knights Kandahar Southwest 2018   Kabir Ali   Asghar Afghan
Nangarhar Leopards Jalalabad East 2018   Venkatesh Prasad   Ben Cutting
Paktia Super Kings Khost, Loya Paktia Southeast 2018   Dawlat Ahmadzai   Shahid Afridi

Tournament seasons and results

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APL overall season results

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Results[9]
Season Final venue Final Teams Man of the Tournament
Winner Result Runner-up
2018
Details
Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Balkh Legends
138/6 (18.1 overs)
Balkh Legends won by 4 wickets
Scorecard
Kabul Zwanan
132/9 (20 overs)
5 Rashid Khan
(Kabul Zwanan)

Overall team performances

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Overall team performances[10]
Team Match Win Loss Tied Tied+W Tied+L NR Win%
Balkh Legends 10 8 2 0 0 0 0 80.00%
Kabul Zwanan 10 5 5 0 0 0 0 50.00%
Kandahar Knights 8 2 6 0 0 0 0 25.00%
Nangarhar Leopards 9 3 6 0 0 0 0 33.33%
Paktia Panthers 9 5 4 0 0 0 0 55.55%
Last Updated: 5 May 2021

Broadcasters

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  • Watan
  • Janeman
  • BBC sports
  • LBC

References

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  1. ^ "Afghanistan Premier League slated for October 2018". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Afghanistan Cricket Premier League To Be Played In UAE". Tolo News. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  3. ^ "DSport to live broadcast APL 2018 in India". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  4. ^ "BCCI unlikely to allow Indian players from participating in newly-launched Afghanistan Premier League". First Post. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Afghans ready with their version of T20 league". Times of India. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Sharjah to host Afghanistan T20 League from October 5". Gulf News. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  7. ^ "ICC approves plans for Afghanistan Premier League". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  8. ^ "ACB confident of relaunching APL in 2025". cricbuzz. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Cricket Records | Afghanistan Premier League | Records | Series results". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Records / Afghanistan Premier League / Results Summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 May 2021.