MUMBAI: The inaugural Afghanistan Premier League (APL) held its player draft on Monday and confirmed that five teams will be participating in the competition namely Kabul, Kandahar, Balkh, Paktia and Nangarhar. As many as 34 overseas players were bid for amongst the franchises, hailing from countries such as England, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, Ireland and Netherlands. Amongst these countries, Pakistan and England have players with the maximum participation.
Some of the world’s top players and the biggest stars of T20 cricket attracted the highest bids for the first season worth $100,000 namely Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Andre Russell and Afghanistan’s superstar bowler Rashid Khan. The five constitute the icon players for their respective teams.
The other categories of players include Diamond ($60000 for Afghans and $75000 for overseas), Gold ($40000 for Afghans and $50000 for overseas), Silver ($20000 for Afghans and $30000 for overseas), ICCA (players from Associate nations worth $15,000) and Emerging ($10,000)
Afghanistan’s top players such as Mohammad Shahzad, Mujeeb ur Rehman, Mohammad Nabi and Asghar Afghan were picked up by the Paktia, Nangarhar, Balkh and Kandahar franchises respectively in the Diamond category.
Rashid, Mujeeb and Nabi have played in T20 competitions around the world such as the IPL and Big Bash in Australia, making a name for themselves and are expected to enhance their team’s chances with their wealth of experience and skills.
The APL is set to take place from 5 October to 23 October this year in Sharjah in the UAE, which has earlier been used as one of the home grounds of the Afghanistan national cricket team. In India, Discovery’s DSport has won the official broadcasting rights for the tournament.
