| Afghanistan Premier League | |
| Country: | Afghanistan |
| Administrator: | Afghanistan Cricket Board |
| Cricket Format: | Twenty20 |
| Tournament Format: | Double round-robin and Knockout |
| First: | 2018 |
| Participants: | 5 |
| Champions: | Balkh Legends (1st title) |
| Most Successful: | Balkh Legends (1 title) |
| Most Runs: | Mohammad Shahzad (344) |
| Most Wickets: | Isuru Udana (17) |
| Tv: | List of broadcasters |
The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) (ps|{{Nastaliq|د افغانستان غوره لیګ; fa|{{Nastaliq|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]
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]
| Team | City | Region | Debut | Coach | Captain | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balkh Legends | Mazar-i-Sharif | North | text-align:center;" | 2018 |  Simon Helmot |  Mohammad Nabi | ||
| Kabul Zwanan | Kabul | Central | text-align:center;" | 2018 | Rashid Khan | |||
| Kandahar Knights | Kandahar | Southwest | text-align:center;" | 2018 | Kabir Ali | Asghar Afghan | ||
| Nangarhar Leopards | Jalalabad | East | text-align:center;" | 2018 |  Venkatesh Prasad | Ben Cutting | ||
| Paktia Super Kings | Khost, Loya Paktia | Southeast | text-align:center;" | 2018 |  Shahid Afridi | |||
| 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) | |
| 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 | |||||||||