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]
 | |
| Countries | Afghanistan |
|---|---|
| Administrator | Afghanistan Cricket Board |
| Format | Twenty20 |
| First edition | 2018 |
| Latest edition | 2018 |
| Tournament format | Double round-robin and Knockout |
| Number of teams | 5 |
| Current champion | Balkh Legends (1st title) |
| Most successful | Balkh Legends (1 title) |
| Most runs | Mohammad Shahzad (344) |
| Most wickets | Isuru Udana (17) |
| TV | List of broadcasters |
| Website | aplt20.tv |
History
editThe 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
edit|
Location of Afghanistan Premier League teams |
| 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
editAPL overall season results
edit| 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
edit| 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
edit- Watan
- Janeman
- BBC sports
- LBC
References
edit- ^ "Afghanistan Premier League slated for October 2018". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Afghanistan Cricket Premier League To Be Played In UAE". Tolo News. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "DSport to live broadcast APL 2018 in India". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
- ^ "BCCI unlikely to allow Indian players from participating in newly-launched Afghanistan Premier League". First Post. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Afghans ready with their version of T20 league". Times of India. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Sharjah to host Afghanistan T20 League from October 5". Gulf News. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ^ "ICC approves plans for Afghanistan Premier League". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^ "ACB confident of relaunching APL in 2025". cricbuzz. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
- ^ "Cricket Records | Afghanistan Premier League | Records | Series results". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ "Records / Afghanistan Premier League / Results Summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 May 2021.