The cricket season is slowly getting back as in the recent past either fixtures or dates of quite a few T20 tournaments have been announced. In fact, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has been started as well. Apart from the CPL, the Indian Premier League (IPL) will also kick-off from September 19, and later this year, the Australian domestic T20 competition Big Bash League (BBL) will also take place.
Now, yet another news regarding the domestic T20 tournament has come out, and this time it’s the turn of Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACC) has announced the players’ draft of the Shpageeza Cricket league.
The tournament is ready to begin from September 6, and the final will be played on September 18. The competition was initially scheduled to start from September 13 but was shifted to a week prior in order to avoid any clash with the 13th season of IPL.
All the matches of the tournament will be played at Kabul Cricket Stadium. Shpageeza is a well-celebrated league in the “land of the Afghans” as it features all the top stars from Afghanistan cricket. The league consists of 6 teams with Mis-e-Ainak Knights being the reigning champions.
Diamond, Platinum, Gold, and Silver are the name of pools in which all players are divided. Each team has retained one cricketer and selected an icon player as well.
Not to mention that just like CPL, this tournament will also be played under strict protocols concerning the ongoing pandemic.
Here are the final squad of all teams after the 2020 players draft:
Kabul Eagles:
Saminullah Shinwari (retained), Rahamnullah Gurbaz (icon player), Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq (diamond), Azmatullah Omarazai, Riaz Hassan, Fazmanullah Safi, Zia ur Rehman Akbar, Sediqullah Atal, Younus Ahmadzai, Zia ur Rahman Sharifi, Ishaq Rahimi, Ihsanullah Ihsan, Abdullah Naib, Rahim Mangal, Nijat Masood, Rahmanullah Zadran.
Mis-e-Ainak Knights:
Muhammad Nabi (retained), Mohammad Shahzad (icon player), Najeebullah Tarakia, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Shahidullah Kamal, noor Ahmad Lakanwal, Abdul Rahman, Sadiqullah Pacha, Dawlat Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Ibrahim Khan, Bahar Ali Shinwari, Abid Taniwal, Abdullah Mazari, Abdul Baqi, Popal, Jamshid Khan, Ghamai Zadran.
Boost Defenders:
Gulbadin Naib (retained), Karim Janat (icon player), Humza Hotak, Rahmat Shah, Ehsanullah Janat, Syed Ahmad Shirzad, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Munir Ahmad Kakar, Tahir Adil, Saleem Safi, Waqarullah Ishaqzai, Imran Janat, Nisar Wahdat, Mohammad Alam, Ghulam Dastiger, Naseebullah Sherdali, Zia ul Haq Eashkil.
Amo Sharks:
Juma Gul Miakhil (retained), Javed Ahmadi (icon player), Yousuf Zazai, Farhan Zakhail, Farhid Malik, Murad Muradi, Shawkhat Zaman, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahid Zakhail, Hayatullah Nasiri, Darwish Rasooli, Batin Shah, Fitraullah Khawri, Qasim Oryakhil, Abdul Wasi, Nasratullah Quraishi, Imran Mohammadi.
Speen Ghar Tigers:
Najibullah Zadran (retained), Qais Ahmad (icon player), Aftab Alam, Kareem Khan Sadiq, Shabeer Noori, Fazal Zazai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Waheedullah Shafaq, Abdullah Adil, Nasir Omar, Rahmatullah Sahak, Parwiz Malikzai, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Zubaid Akbari, Zahir Shehzad, Majeeb Alam.
Band-e Amir Dragons:
Rashid Khan (retained), Asghar Afghan (icon player), Sharafudin Ashraf, Hanid Hassan, Ibrahim Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Tarik Stanikzai, Mirwais Ashraf, Waqarullah Salamkhil, Nasir Jamal, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Sardar, Ibrahim Abdurrahimzai, Wafadar Momand, Ikram Alikhil, Imran Mir, Parwin Amin.
