APL 2026 Draft Results: Amir First Pick, 90 Players Picked

The Afghanistan Premier League T20 Player Draft was held in Dubai on Tuesday, 3 November 2026. According to the Afghanistan Cricket Board's release, 90 players were selected from a pool of 462 across six categories and 18 rounds. The five Afghan Icon players had already been assigned, so each franchise left the room with a 19-member squad for the season that starts on 27 December in the UAE.

Platinum went in this order: Kandahar Warriors took Muhammad Amir, Team Balkh took England all-rounder Moeen Ali to join Afghan Icon Ibrahim Zadran, Nangarhar Cosmic took England batter Alex Hales, Akcel United Kabul took West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Johnson Charles, and Team Paktia closed the category with Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga.

The first Diamond round was mostly Afghan. Kandahar picked Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil, Kabul picked left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi, Balkh picked spinner AM Ghazanfar, Paktia picked left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad Lakanwal and Nangarhar picked batter Darwish Rasooli. In the second Diamond round Nangarhar added Shakib Al Hasan, Paktia took Bangladesh fast bowler Nahid Rana, Balkh took England's Luke Wood, Kabul took Sri Lanka's Dushmantha Chameera and Kandahar finished with England keeper-batter Joe Clarke.

Gold opened with Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Kabul, then Ijaz Ahmadzai to Paktia, Karim Janat to Kandahar, Kamindu Mendis to Nangarhar and Gulbadin Naib to Balkh. Later Gold rounds brought Sediqullah Atal and UAE captain Muhammad Waseem to Balkh; Colin Munro, David Wiese and Hashmatullah Shahidi to Paktia; Kusal Perera and Tymal Mills to Kandahar; and D'Arcy Short and Shamim Hossain to Kabul. Balkh used its Wildcard in the final Gold round on Abdullah Ahmadzai from the Silver category.

Nangarhar opened Silver with Zahir Khan Pakten, Kabul took Imran Tahir and Kandahar took Mohammad Shahzad, the leading run-scorer of the 2018 APL. Fifteen Emerging players went in three rounds, with Nangarhar making batter Faisal Khan Shinozada the first pick of that category. In the Supplementary rounds Balkh took Qais Ahmad, player of the 2018 final, and Christopher Wood, and Kabul added Ireland all-rounder Curtis Campher.

Every name above is from the ACB's published release. The squads page lists all 95 players by team and category, and each team page carries its own 19. Fixtures, grounds and broadcasters were still not announced when this was published.