The Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) plans for the staging of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) received a significant boost earlier this week as the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave its stamp of approval for the tournament.
According to a release on the ACB website, ICC’s approval enabled “member boards to issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to players associated with the respective boards”.
The APL will begin as a five-team tournament, and will be played between 5 and 21 October at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates.
The league will be made up of teams from Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Balkh and Paktia.
Afghanistan star @rashidkhan_19 has launched a charity foundation aimed at aiding the health and education of orphaned and impoverished children in the country.
— ICC (@ICC) August 12, 2018
➡️ https://t.co/ELamu6M2R2pic.twitter.com/kn4FbzKhBN
The bidding process for the ownership of the franchises is ongoing, and it is expected to be concluded later this month.
The tournament is different from the Shpageeza League, which is a 12-day tournament played in Afghanistan between six teams.
The APL marks the latest step in Afghanistan’s increasing presence in world cricket. Afghanistan were given ICC Full Member status in 2017, and in June they played their first ever Test, in Bengaluru against India.
More News
Videos
Personalise your homepage with an ICC account
News, fixtures and updates tailored to your favourite team. Never miss a moment!
Trending News
- 1
1 Prithvi Shaw ruled out of Australia Test series, Agarwal, Pandya called up
Opening batsman Prithvi Shaw, who had missed the first two Tests against Australia with injury, has now been ruled out of the rest of the series.
2 Mustafizur Rahman in top five of ODI rankings
3 PCB granted rights for 2020 Asia Cup
4 Ashwin, Rohit injured, Kuldeep dropped for Perth Test
5 IPL 2019 auction: All you need to know
