Cricket Afghanistan

It never felt Abdullah Tarakhail was bowling his first international over inside the power-play to a seasoned cricketing icon like Sikandar Raza & induced him in a false stroke that got him dismissed. Loved it. #AFGvZIM 🤩 🇦🇫 🏏

We have witnessed a complete redemption from @noor_ahmad_15 with a maiden career best spell of 5/13 against the same oposition he started off his T20I career with a match winning 4-fer. Life has come a full circle. #AFGvZIM 🇦🇫 🏏

That's indeed a well deserved & hard earned national callup & look at the way Abdullah Tarakhail has cashed this opportunity on his first international debut. Truly remarkable. Way to go. #AFGvZIM 🤩 🇦🇫 🏏

The APL draft rules explained by @AhFarhadFidai. The draft is slated to happen on 3rd & will be streamed live over the official @ACBofficials YT channel. #APLT20 🇦🇫 🏏

Breaking the unbeaten streak of Australia in the Cup final, Afghanistan is the newly crowned champions of Hong Kong Sixes! 🏆 🏏 🇦🇫

Before the social media starts connecting cooked up stories on CSA's withholding of NOC's to it's contracted players, it needs to be clarified that South Africa is hosting England in a bilateral series spanning mid-December upto mid-January followed up by SA20 due to which they're protecting contracted players from any possible injury. #APLT20 #Draft #MatthewBretzke #SouthAfrica

Beating Oman & Scotland, Afghanistan marches into the final against Australia in the Hong Kong Sixes tournament. Historically Australia in any final start as favorites to win the title. #AFGvAUS #HongKongSixes2026 🇦🇫 🏏

Local Diamond Pool for the APL draft slips out. Batters: Sediq Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Hashmat Shahidi, Najib Zadran Allrounders: Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat Spinners: AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Qais Ahmad, Sharafuddin Ashraf Fast Bowlers: Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Malik #APLT20 #Local #DiamondCategory #DraftPicks 🇦🇫 🏏

The overseas diamond pool is out. Strange to see the name of Waqar Salamkheil in the foreign category although APL has reserved 5 slots for Afghan cricketers settled abroad. The list has some interesting names like Sikandar Raza, TKC, Brandon King, Nahid Rana, Shoriful Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Muzarabani, Laurie Evans, Joe Clarke, Reece Topley etc. #APLT20 #OverseasDiamond 🇦🇫 🏏

That was an absolute carnage by @AzmatOmarzay to bring his maiden T20I 💯. Cinematic to the core, Azmatullah showcased a relentless chanceless clean & crisp masterclass on power hitting. #AllrounderNo1 #AFGvZIM 🇦🇫 🏏

That's the moment when @rashidkhan_19 touched a new milestone in the history of T20I's. Marumani became Rashid's 200th victim & a new record was born. #HighestWicketTaker 🤩🔥

The platinum overseas picks will be drafted from this pool. The slots available are only 🖐️ in this category. #APLT20 #OverseasPlatinum 🇦🇫 🏏

It's a close win in the opening game against SA. But the real test will be against Oman tomorrow morning who looks to have the edge because of beating SA comprehensively in their opening game as well. #AFGvSA #HongKongInternationalSixes 🇦🇫 🏏

Two back to back electrifying hundreds scored by upcoming youth sensation, Tahir Sarwari against Oman have certainly drawn attention of many. Out of everything, the strike rates of these knocks are stagerring. However his real test as a batter is going to be in the U19 Asia Cup against bigger teams. #AFG19vsOMA19 #YouthODISeries #TahirSarwari 🇦🇫 🏏

On a day when Azmat & Ijaz stole the show, Rashid Khan quietly becomes the first international cricketer to reach the milestone of 200 T20I wickets. Before touching the landmark during the Zimbabwe chase, he also spanked 4 sixes in the last 5 balls of the innings. Truly remarkable! #AFGvZIM @rashidkhan_19 🔥🇦🇫 🏏

There are some investments which gives enormous pain but a few rise from the ashes & shine like a real diamond. Well that can only happen when the investment is made at the appropriate time. The trust & belief which the new leadership core has shown on Ijaz Ahmadzai is seemingly giving good dividends. Today when the chips were totally down at 38/5 after 8.1 overs & Ijaz was coming at the crease to support Azmat as the last recognised batter, no one would have believed that history is going to witness a historic recovery from the duo. Ijaz took the first step to counter attack which slowly gave confidence to Azmat to launch a relentless attack from both the sides. No bowler was spared for a bit and the rampant massacre was continued till the last ball of the innings when the scoreboard flashed the highest T20I total at Sharjah i.e. 221/7. The record breaking 142-run sixth wicket stand was finally broken when Ijaz after reaching his second successive fifty of the series in 26 balls tried to launch a slower one but mistimed it straight into the palms of the diving long off fielder. Interestingly it looks like Afghanistan have found their much needed finisher at 7 which they were desperately missing in the last 3-4 years. Ibrahim & Gurbaz might have failed together again at the top but that has brought a new avatar of Azmat & Ijaz upfront which should go a long way in boosting the confidence of this side going forward. #AFGvZIM 🔥🇦🇫 🏏

A majestic chanceless maiden T20I 💯 by @AzmatOmarzay pulls out Afghanistan from an absolute doldrum of 5/4 & steers his side to an unassailable 2-0 series lead over Zimbabwe with one more final game slated on Sunday. Azmatullah smashed 12 maximums & 5 boundaries on his way to scoring 116 runs from 50 deliveries. This knock should go a long way in shaping Omarzai's career as a champion white ball icon. #AFGvZIM 🔥🇦🇫 🏏

Allocation of local assistant coaches to all the five respective teams have been locked. Let's look at how the core think-tanks are shaping up! United Kabul: Nikhil Chopra (Mentor), Shane McDermott (Head Coach), Hamid Hassan (Assistant Coach), Azmatullah Omarzai (Captain) Kandahar Warriors: Irfan Pathan (Mentor), Ravi Bopara (Head Coach), Raees Ahmadzai (Assistant Coach), Rashid Khan (Captain) Balkh: Tilakratne Dilshan (Mentor), Mickey Arthur (Head Coach), Noor Ali Zadran (Assistant Coach), Ibrahim Zadran (Captain) Nangarhar: Mark Boucher (Mentor), Toby Radford (Head Coach), Nawroz Mangal (Assistant Coach), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Captain) Paktia: Waqar Younis (Mentor), Azhar Mahmood (Head Coach), Dawlat Ahmadzai (Assistant Coach), Rahmat Shah (Captain) #APLT20 #LeadershipRoles #AssistantCoaches 🇦🇫 🏏

That's like plucking the ball out of thin air. Farooqi is in complete disbelief. So is the catcher Shahid Kamal. #AFGvZIM 🤩🔥

That's how the carnage begun. Some crisp, clean & exotic power hitting masterclass by Ijaz Ahmadzai. Finally graduating from age group to the senior side. Seems like the ILT talent scouts have missed something big. #AFGvZIM 🇦🇫 🏏