Akcel United Kabul vs Paktia: APL 2026 head to head

APL head-to-head record

The record between these two clubs is a blank page. Neither Akcel United Kabul nor Paktia has played an APL match, and the fixture list had not been published, so there is no date, no ground and no result to put in the table yet — only the two squads the ACB released after the 3 November draft in Dubai. When the first meeting is played, the scorecard will go here. The 2018 meetings between the cities will not: Kabul Zwanan and Paktia Panthers were different clubs, and their results stay with them.

The 2018 meetings: same cities, different clubs

The cities met three times in 2018, and the balance tilted Kabul's way — but only just. The season opened with them: on 5 October, Paktia Panthers posted 218 for 4 and Kabul Zwanan chased it down, reaching 220 for 7 with five balls to spare, winning by three wickets. Thirteen days later the result went the other way: Kabul made 168 for 4, Paktia chased it with six wickets in hand, 172 for 4 in 19.4 overs. One win each, and the decider came in the semi-final on 20 October, where Paktia were bowled out for 102 in 14.5 overs and Kabul won by 90 runs, 192 for 9 against 102.

Paktia's league season was the better of the two — five wins from eight, second in the table behind Balkh Legends — while Kabul's four wins left them third. But the semi-final is what the season is remembered for in Paktia, and it was a rout: 102 all out, and a 90-run defeat. Kabul went on to the final and lost it to Balkh by four wickets on 21 October, Qais Ahmad taking 5 for 18 and Rashid Khan named player of the series. The Panthers' consolation was individual: Mohammad Shahzad's 344 runs led the tournament's batting, and Isuru Udana's 17 wickets led its bowling. None of it counts toward 2026.

What survives is the personnel — and here the thread runs through Paktia's captain. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was 16 when he was named in the Panthers' 2018 squad, and he played five matches as a specialist batter, because Mohammad Shahzad kept wicket. He made 65 runs at 16.25, his best 33 against Balkh Legends on 13 October, four sixes in 22 balls, and he took two catches in the outfield, Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum. In the semi-final against Kabul Zwanan he made 7 off 10 as Paktia were bowled out for 102. He returns in 2026 as Paktia's captain — but not by the route first announced: at the leaders' draft on 25 October he was named Nangarhar captain, and on 3 November the ACB swapped him with Rahmat Shah, who now leads Nangarhar Cosmic.

On Akcel's side, the 2018 thread runs through Johnson Charles — and it is not a happy one for him. He played for Nangarhar Leopards in 2018, and the Leopards lost both of their meetings with Paktia: by 21 runs on 7 October, and by seven wickets on 14 October. He returns in 2026 in Akcel colours, against the city that beat his side twice. Wanindu Hasaranga, Paktia's Platinum pick, has no 2018 thread at all: he did not play the first season, and was in Dambulla's squad for Sri Lanka's domestic T20 league that August. The 2026 season is his APL debut.

Where the squads differ

Akcel's squad is built around pace and spin. The Platinum round brought Johnson Charles, a two-time T20 World Cup winner, taken fourth overall; Diamond brought Fazalhaq Farooqi, joint-highest wicket-taker at the 2024 T20 World Cup, and Sri Lanka's Dushmantha Chameera. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the first Gold pick, adds off-spin, and the rest of the 19 leans the same way: Imran Tahir's leg-spin, Hazratullah Zazai's power at the top, D'Arcy Short and Curtis Campher among six overseas players.

Paktia's build starts with spin — two frontline wrist-spinners in one squad, Hasaranga's leg-spin and Noor Ahmad's, backed by Hashmatullah Shahidi's steadiness and the overseas experience of Colin Munro, David Wiese, Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus and England quick Olly Stone. Hasaranga was the last Platinum pick of the draft, fifth overall, at $100,000, and he is the second name on Paktia's list behind their captain. The overseas count is six against Akcel's six, and both squads are 19 strong. The difference is in the shape: Akcel leans on left-arm pace and wrist spin, Paktia on leg-spin twins and seasoned overseas all-rounders.

Key battles to watch

The captains set the tone. Azmatullah Omarzai leads Akcel — a fast-bowling all-rounder who hits the ball hard — against Rahmanullah Gurbaz, an opener who takes the attack to the new ball and finished as the leading run-scorer at the 2024 T20 World Cup with 281 runs. It is a contrast of temperaments as much as of teams: Omarzai's side is built to attack with the ball, Gurbaz's to set a total and defend it with spin.

The bowling match-up is where this fixture could be won. Farooqi's left-arm pace against Gurbaz at the top is the first duel to watch — Gurbaz scores fast in the powerplay, but few openers have faced the new-ball swing Farooqi brings — and at the other end, Mujeeb's off-spin against Hasaranga's leg-spin, two men whose job is to own the middle overs. Then there is Charles against the Paktia attack: he lost twice to this city in 2018, and he will want the third meeting to go the other way.

Coaches and mentors

The names in the dugouts are as big as the names on the field. Akcel's head coach is Shane McDermott, with Nikhil Chopra as mentor; Paktia's dugout pairs Azhar Mahmood with Waqar Younis. Both groups were settled at the leaders' draft on 25 October, nine days before the players were picked — though the captains were not: the mentors announcement still lists Gurbaz as Nangarhar's captain, a detail the 3 November swap made stale. The full leadership groups are in the mentors, coaches and captains announcement.

When do they play each other?

No date yet — the fixture list had not been published, so nobody knows when these two meet, or on which ground. The certainties are the frame around it: the season opens on 27 December 2026 in the UAE, the first ball is at 5:30 PM Afghanistan time (5:00 PM Dubai time), and the league has advertised 24 matches, twenty in the league stage and then the knockout. The date, the ground and the result will go on this page as soon as the ACB publishes them; until then the schedule and the points table are the places to watch.

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