Renowned cricketers picked up in APL draft

KABUL Primer League (APL) have been announced after the completion of the draft held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Kandahar has signed up McCullum while Chris Gayle went for Balkh and Russell joined Nangarhar. Afghanistan’s star spinner Rashid Khan was picked by Kabul.

Afghanistan Cricket Board and Snixer Sports jointly organised the players’ draft for the inaugural edition of APL consisting of 23 matches at the Hilton Hotel in Habtoor.

The first edition of APL is scheduled to take place from October 5 to 28 in the UAE. A total of five teams representing the five regions of Afghanistan will play in the tournament. The franchises are Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Paktia and Balkh.

Seventeen players from the UAE and 98 players from Afghanistan were up for grabs in the inaugural draft. Over 400 players were available for draft from 25 countries.

The countries included Afghanistan, the UAE, the Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Oman, Kenya, the US, Scotland, Germany, Hong Kong, Nepal, Italy, Oman, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ireland, West Indies, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan.

Each team will be comprised of a minimum of 17 players and a maximum of 20. Elaborating on the draft, ShafiqullahStanikzai, CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, said: “Each owner is supposed to have a minimum $5,55,000 and a maximum $700,000 player purse.

“Each franchise will have an additional purse of $145,000 to purchase three players and if there is an unspent amount after picking the entire team, the same can be retained.”

Kabul squad: Rashid Khan, Hazrat Zazai, Luke Ronchi, Colin Ingram, Farid Malik, Javed Ahmadi, Sohail Tanveer Laurie Evans, Wayan Parnel, Mohammad Ahsan Ali Khan, Shahidullah, Muslim Musa, Afsar Zazai, Zahir Sherzad, Fitratullah Khawari, Shaukat Zaman, Usman Adel, Zamir Khan and Nasir Totakhel.

Balkh squad: Chris Gayle, Colin Munro, Mohammad Nabi, Ravi Bopara, Aftab Alam, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Irfan, Ben Laughlin, Kamran Akmal, Qais Ahmad, Usman Ghani, Ikram Alikhel, Rayan Ten Doeschate, Tariq Stanikzai, Asadullah Matani, Darwesh Rasooli, Farhan Zakhel, Samiullah Salarzai and Mohammad Nawaz.

Paktia squad: Shahid Afridi, Thisara Perara, Mohammad Shahzad, Cameron Delport, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Samullah Shinwari, Chris Jordan, Faheem Ashraf, Luke Wright, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ziaur Rahman Akbar, Calum Macleod, Tahir Adel, Yousuf Zazai, Ihsanullah Janat, Ziaur Rahman and Fazal Zazai.

Nangarhar squad: Andre Russell, Tamim Iqbal, Mujeebur Rahman, Ben Cutting, Shafiqullah Shafaq, Najib Tarakai, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Hafeez, Rahmat Shah, Naveenul Haq, Zahir Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Fazal Haq, Imran Janat, Khyber Omar, Nasrat Qureshi, Fazal Niazai and Ibrahim Zadran.

Kandahar squad: Brendon McCollum, Wahab Riaz, Asghar Afghan, Paul Sterling, Najib Zadran, Karim Janat, Tymal Mills, Sam Billings, Iftikhar Ahmad, Hamza Hotak, Karim Sadiq, Syed Sherzad, Mohammad Naveed, Waqar Salamkhel, Abdul Baqi, Waqarullah Ishaq, Wahidullah Shafaq and Nasir Jamal.

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