Kandahar Warriors vs Nangarhar Cosmic: APL 2026 head to head

APL head-to-head record

There is no record here yet, and there cannot be one: neither club has played a match. The ACB had not published the fixture list, so there is no date, no ground and no score to report — only the two squads from the 3 November draft in Dubai, set side by side below. The first time they meet, the result will be the first entry in this record. The 2018 meetings between the cities do not count toward it: the Knights and the Leopards were different clubs, and what they did stays with them.

The 2018 meetings: same cities, different clubs

The cities met twice in the 2018 league stage, and the honours were shared. On 6 October the Leopards chased the Knights' 139 for 9 with 142 for 4 in 18.3 overs, winning by six wickets; a week later, on 13 October, the Knights made 136 for 8 and bowled Nangarhar out for 110 in 19.3 overs, winning by 26 runs. Both games were played at Sharjah, like every match of that season, and both were low, tight affairs — the kind of games where one dropped catch or one quiet over settles it.

The table behind those two games shows why the split flattered neither side. The Knights finished fifth and last with two wins from eight, four points and a net run rate of −0.226; their only other win was a four-wicket chase against Paktia on 17 October, and two of their defeats were by two runs and nine runs. The Leopards finished fourth with three wins, six points and a net run rate of −0.582 — the worst on the table — but three wins were enough to scrape the last semi-final place, ahead of the Knights. Their other wins came against Kabul Zwanan by 15 runs on 12 October and against the eventual champions, Balkh Legends, by six wickets on 17 October.

The seasons then went in opposite directions. The Knights went home. The Leopards went to the semi-final and were bowled out for 64 by Balkh Legends, losing by 171 runs — the lowest total of the tournament, and the most one-sided match of the season. Two days later Balkh chased Kabul's 132 for 9 with 138 for 6 in 18.1 overs to take the title — Qais Ahmad took 5 for 18 and was player of the match, Chris Gayle made 56 off 34, and Rashid Khan was named player of the series. The 2018 story of these two cities is a shared one: a split in the league, and then a gulf between fifth and a semi-final.

The thread from those two games to this fixture runs through the man who now captains Nangarhar. Rahmat Shah played all eight of the Leopards' league games in 2018 — 87 runs and six wickets — and his best day was the 15-run win over Kabul on 12 October, when he made 8 off 6 and took 3 for 25 and was named player of the match. He watched the semi-final from the bench as his side was bowled out for 64. Eight years on he returns as Nangarhar's captain, the role he took on 3 November when the ACB swapped him with Rahmanullah Gurbaz. And the man who finished the 2018 story is on the other side now: Rashid Khan, who captained Kabul Zwanan to the final and was named player of the series, leads Kandahar.

Where the squads differ

On paper the two squads are twins: 19 players each, a Platinum pick, two Diamond picks, five Gold picks, five Silver picks, three Emerging picks and two Supplementary picks. The difference is where the draft money went — and who spent it first. Kandahar opened the whole draft by taking Muhammad Amir in Platinum, the first pick overall at $100,000, and opened Diamond with Mohammad Nabi; Nangarhar waited until third in Platinum for Alex Hales, also at $100,000, and spent Diamond on Darwish Rasooli and Shakib Al Hasan. Both sides then built the same way, and both finished with a squad that leans on its Afghan core.

The one structural difference is the shape of the spin. Kandahar hold the two most decorated spinners in the fixture — Rashid Khan, the captain, and Nabi, who captained the 2018 champions and made 177 runs and took nine wickets that season — with Allah Noor Naseri in Silver behind them. Nangarhar's answer is Shakib, the Bangladesh all-rounder, and Zahir Khan in Silver, with Rasooli's batting to balance them. And the overseas lists tell their own story: Kandahar's five are Joe Clarke, Kusal Perera, Tymal Mills, Dwaine Pretorius and George Munsey; Nangarhar's five are Hales, Shakib, Kamindu Mendis, Junaid Siddique and Amir Jangoo. Kandahar's Gold round also brought Kusal Perera's batting and Tymal Mills' pace, against Nangarhar's Kamindu Mendis.

Key battles to watch

The captains carry the history of this fixture between them. Rashid Khan is the biggest name in Afghan cricket, the bowler every side plans around, and he is leading a side in the city whose 2018 club finished last. Rahmat Shah is the opposite kind of captain — a batter who made his name in Tests and ODIs, leading the side whose 2018 club reached the semi-final. The first time the two walk out for the toss, the tone of the match will be set by which of them imposes himself first: Rashid with the ball, Rahmat with the bat.

The new-ball duel is the one the crowd will watch. Muhammad Amir, the first pick of the whole draft, is making his APL debut in 2026 — he was not in any of the five squads in 2018 — and the first time he runs in against a Nangarhar top order that opens with Alex Hales, also making his APL debut, will be the contest the season's first meeting is sold on. Amir's left-arm pace against Hales' power at the top is the sharpest single matchup on either squad list.

And waiting in the middle overs is the spin contest: Rashid and Nabi, two men who have won matches for Afghanistan for a decade, against Shakib, the most experienced all-rounder in the fixture, and Rasooli, whose batting has carried Nangarhar's middle order in domestic cricket. The side whose spinners go at fewer than seven an over will win most of the matches between these two.

Coaches and mentors

The dugouts are as strong as the squads. Kandahar's head coach is Ravi Bopara, with Irfan Pathan as mentor; Nangarhar's is Toby Radford, with Mark Boucher as mentor. Both groups were settled at the leaders' draft on 25 October, the day the captains were named, and the full leadership groups are in the mentors, coaches and captains announcement of 2 November. One detail in that announcement is already out of date: it still lists Rahmanullah Gurbaz as Nangarhar's captain, a line the 3 November swap — Gurbaz to Paktia, Rahmat Shah to Nangarhar — made stale. The coaches and mentors are not affected.

When do they play each other?

Not yet — the fixture list had not been published, so the first Kandahar Warriors vs Nangarhar Cosmic meeting has no date and no ground. What is fixed is the frame: 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. When the ACB publishes the fixtures, the date and the ground — and then the result — will go on this page; until then the schedule and the points table are the places to watch.

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