Afghanistan Premier League gets green signal from ICC

Within just over a year of getting full-membership in the International Cricket Council (ICC), Afghanistan is already creating ripples in the surface of global cricketing circuits. The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) is the new brainchild of the nation. Recently, the league received a major boost as it was green signalled by the ICC.

The inaugural edition of the brand new league is reportedly going to be held in the latter half of the current year. With a majority of the present Afghan cricketers all set to take part in the tournament, the league can also be expected to draft in quite a few star players from all over the world in order to make it a glamorous and exciting affair.

ICC approves of APL

As reported by Ariana News, a release on the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) website confirmed ICC’s approval. According to the release, ICC giving them an approval earlier this week enabled “member boards to issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to players associated with the respective boards”. The tournament is all set to be different from the Shpageeza League, which is a 12-day tournament played in Afghanistan between six teams.

In contrast, the APL will consist of five teams, namely from  Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Balkh, and Paktia. The glitzy tournament is slated to be played between 5 and 21 October at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The bidding process for the ownership of the franchises is ongoing and is expected to be concluded later this month.

Afghanistan, having received their full membership with the ICC back in June 2017, have been impressively active in the cricketing world, going from strength to strength. The nation played its first ever Test in Bengaluru against India in June this year, where they put up heart-winning performances. Star Afghan player, Rashid Khan is currently playing in the T20 Blast for Sussex, where his commendable performances are expected to give his team a hefty leverage towards a possible title win.

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