Draft
APL 2026 draft and auction
This is a category draft, not a televised purse auction. The first-pick order came from the APL Huddle. The 90 names are on the squads pages.
How APL players are chosen
The 2026 draft runs 18 rounds and 90 picks, which is 18 players a franchise if every call is used. Categories are Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging, then two supplementary rounds that follow the Emerging order.
Ninety-five names sit on the five squads, not ninety. The extra five are the Afghan Icon captains, picked before the main draft. The main draft itself called 90 names over 18 rounds.
The first pick inside each category was not drawn from a hat. The APL Huddle in Dubai put leadership groups — captain, head coach, ambassadors, ownership — through five games, one per category. Win the game, open the category. Later rounds were randomised so one good afternoon did not become eighteen first picks.
APL draft salary brackets
Salary brackets were reported before the draft by Cricbuzz and ESPN. The ACB draft release itself lists categories, not wages. The brackets below are the reported figures. Franchise player budgets were reported between $650,000 and $750,000.
| Category | Picks | Reported salary |
|---|---|---|
| Afghan Icon | 5 | Not published in checked sources |
| Platinum | 5 | $100,000 |
| Diamond | 10 | $65,000 |
| Gold (including 1 Wildcard pick) | 25 | $40,000 |
| Silver | 25 | $20,000 |
| Emerging | 15 | $10,000 |
| Supplementary | 10 | Not published in checked sources |
| Total | 95 |
Who opens each APL draft category
| Category | Opens with |
|---|---|
| Platinum | Kandahar Warriors |
| Diamond | Kandahar Warriors |
| Gold | Akcel United Kabul |
| Silver | Nangarhar Cosmic |
| Emerging | Nangarhar Cosmic |
Paktia pick second in the opening Gold round and second in the opening Emerging round. The full round-by-round order was published by the league’s draft note on 3 November 2026. Reprinting all eighteen rounds here would mostly prove we can copy a table. The openings are the part that changes a franchise’s week. The rest is on the release if you need every slot.
APL Platinum picks in order
| Pick | Team | Player |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kandahar Warriors | Muhammad Amir |
| 2 | Balkh Zwanan | Moeen Ali |
| 3 | Nangarhar Cosmic | Alex Hales |
| 4 | Akcel United Kabul | Johnson Charles |
| 5 | Paktia | Wanindu Hasaranga |
APL captains drafted before the main draft
Captains and head coaches came from a leaders’ draft in late October. Franchises picked from a shortlist. The board appointed other staff. On 3 November, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was moved to Paktia and Rahmat Shah to Nangarhar. Coaches in the reporting stayed with the franchises: Bopara, Arthur, McDermott, Radford, Mahmood.
Who registered for the APL 2026 draft
ESPNcricinfo, writing on 2 November, named overseas and regional players who had registered. Registration is a form, not a shirt. The list included Wanindu Hasaranga, Reeza Hendricks, Romario Shepherd, Rovman Powell, Imran Tahir, Akeal Hosein, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Kusal Perera, Imam-ul-Haq, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Charith Asalanka, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Sahibzada Farhan. None of them is filed under a team on this site.
APL overseas players by country
Twenty-seven squad players carry a country in brackets in the ACB release. England accounts for seven of them, the largest group. The table below counts the country shown in brackets next to each name in the release.
| Country | Players |
|---|---|
| England | 7 |
| Sri Lanka | 4 |
| Bangladesh | 3 |
| South Africa | 2 |
| UAE | 2 |
| West Indies | 2 |
| Namibia | 2 |
| Scotland | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Total | 27 |
APL 2018 squads and auction
The 2018 squads were announced as squads, not as a category draft we are reconstructing. This page does not rerun that auction. The squads page holds the 2018 names we can attach to a checked performance or a listed captaincy.
For teams, schedule and FAQs next to the draft, see the APL 2026 guide.
APL draft FAQs
How many players were picked in the APL 2026 draft?
Ninety, over 18 rounds, from a pool of 462. Each franchise added 18 picks to its Afghan Icon captain, making 19-player squads.
What are the APL 2026 salary brackets?
As reported before the draft: Platinum $100,000, Diamond $65,000, Gold $40,000, Silver $20,000 and Emerging $10,000. The ACB release lists categories, not wages.
Who opened each draft category?
Kandahar Warriors opened Platinum and Diamond, Akcel United Kabul opened Gold, and Nangarhar Cosmic opened Silver and Emerging. The order came from the APL Huddle games.
Have APL franchise owners been announced?
Not formally, as of 4 November 2026. ESPNcricinfo reported on 2 November that owners had still not been formally announced by the board. This site lists owners as to-be-confirmed until an ACB or APL release settles them.