APL (Afghanistan Premier League) is the upcoming T20 cricket tournament that will take place for the first time in Afghanistan and is scheduled to play from 5 to 21 October 2018. Five teams based in Afghani cities will be playing competing in the competition.
Checkout: APL T20 2018 full schedule
Balkh Legends, Kabul Zwanan, Kandahar Knights, Nangarhar Leopards and Paktia Panthers are the five playing teams in the first edition of APLT20. Players draft took place on 10 September, 2018 and team Paktia Panthers picked former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi as first pick of the players draft in Icon category.
Kabul Zwanan chose Rashid Khan, Nangarhar Leopards picked Andre Russell, Balkh Legends got Chris Gayle and Kandahar Knights picked Brendon McCullum as their first picks in 2018 APL Twenty20 players draft.
Let’s have a look at the complete squads for all participating 5 teams in Afghanistan Premier League 2018.
APL 2018 Teams, Squads and Players
| Paktia Panthers | Kabul Zwanan | Nangarhar Leopards | Balkh Legends | Kandahar Knights |
| Shahid Afridi (c) | Rashid Khan (c) | Andre Russell (c) | Chris Gayle | Brendon McCullum (c) |
| Thisara Perera | Luke Ronchi | Tamim Iqbal | Colin Munro | Wahab Riaz |
| MS Shahzad | Hazrat Zazai | Mujeeb Ur Rahman | Mohammed Nabi (c) | Asghar Afghan |
| Cameron Delport | Colin Ingram | Ben Cutting | Ravi Bopara | Paul Sterling |
| Sharafuddin Ashraf | Farid Malik | Shafiqullah Shafaq | Aftab Alam | Najib Zadran |
| Samiullah Shinwari | Javed Ahmadi | Najib Tarakai | Gulbadin Naib | Karim Janat |
| Chris Jordan | Sohail Tanveer | Mitchell McClenaghan | Mohammad Irfan | Tymal Mills |
| Faheem Ashraf | Laurie Evans | Mushfiqur Rahim | Ben Laughlin | Sam Billings |
| Luke Wright | Wayne Parnell | Mohammad Hafeez | Kamran Akmal | Iftikhar Ahmad |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | Shahidullah Kamal | Rahmat Shah | Qais Ahmad | Hamza Hotak |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Muslim Musa | Naveen Ul Haq | Usman Ghani | Karim Sadiq |
| Zia Ur Rehman Akbar | Afsar Zazai | Zahir Khan | Ikram Ali Khil | Sayed Shirzad |
| Calum MacLeod | Mohammad Ahsan Ali | Sandeep Lamichhane | Ryan Ten Doeschate | Mohammad Naveed |
| Tahir Adil | Zahir Shirzad | Fazal Haq | Tariq Stanikzai | Waqar Salamkhel |
| Yosuf Zazai | Fitratullah Khawry | Imran Janat | Asadullah Matani | Abdul Baqi |
| Fazal Zazai | Usman Adil | Nasrat Qureshi | Samiullah Salarzai | Waheedullah Shafaq |
| Zia ur Rahman Morkel | Shawkat Zaman | Khaybar Omar | Farhan Zakhil | Waqarullah Ishaq |
| Ihsanullah Janat | Zamir Khan | Darwish Rasooli | Taskin Ahmed | |
| Shahid Mandozai | Mohammad Nawaz | Kevin O’Brien |
What are your views on these five teams of 2018 Afghanistan Premier League? Share with us in comments.