Farid Ahmad Malik is a 32-year-old left-arm fast-medium bowler with 48 wickets in 39 T20Is, and he joins Kandahar Warriors for APL T20 2026 as their third Gold pick from the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, for a reported US$40,000.
Farid Ahmad played in the first APL season. He was 24 when Kabul Zwanan picked
him for the inaugural edition in Sharjah in October 2018, and he played nine of
their ten matches — every game bar the final league match against Paktia Panthers
on 18 October, for which he was rested along with Rashid Khan. Across the
tournament he bowled 28.1 overs for seven wickets at 38.00, with a best of 2 for
40, and made 18 runs, with a highest score of 14 not out. Kabul reached the
final, where Balkh Legends won by four wickets — and the title-winning blow was
a six off Farid Ahmad's bowling, struck by Gulbadin Naib off the first ball of
the 19th over.
Eight years on, Kandahar Warriors took him as their third pick of the Gold round
at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, for a reported US$40,000, to a
side led by Rashid Khan, coached by Ravi Bopara and mentored by Irfan Pathan.
The season starts on 27 December 2026 in the UAE, with the fixture list still
to be confirmed.
Kandahar are getting an experienced Afghanistan seamer: 39 T20Is, 20 ODIs and a
Test cap, with a T20I best of 3 for 14 and an ODI best of 3 for 56. He is also
one of only three Kandahar Gold picks with APL experience from 2018 — the others are Karim Janat, who played all eight matches for Kandahar Knights that season, and Tymal Mills, who played three.
For a side built around Rashid Khan's spin, Farid Ahmad's left-arm pace at the
start and the death gives the attack a different angle.
APL career stats
Farid Ahmad's APL figures come from the first season in 2018, recounted match by
match from the scorecards. He played nine of Kabul Zwanan's ten matches, missing
only the final league game against Paktia Panthers on 18 October 2018. The 2026
tables will fill in once the first ball is bowled on 27 December 2026.
Zimbabwe made 228, with Innocent Kaia scoring 63 and Ryan Burl 51 not out,
and Farid Ahmad took the best Afghan figures of the day: 3 for 56 in ten
overs, trapping captain Craig Ervine lbw for 32, having Kaia caught behind
and bowling Milton Shumba lbw for one. Afghanistan chased 229 for 2 in 44.3
overs, with Ibrahim Zadran making 120 not out and Rahmat Shah 88 in a
record 195-run second-wicket stand, to seal the series with a game to spare.
Why it mattered: his ODI best — and the spell that set up
a series win.
3 for 31 vs Pakistan — and the Asif Ali flashpoint
Asia Cup, Super Four · Sharjah · 7 September 2022
Pakistan were chasing 130 when Asif Ali, on 16 off eight balls, was beaten
by a slower bouncer and caught by Karim Janat at short fine leg in the 19th
over, leaving Pakistan one wicket from defeat. Farid Ahmad celebrated in
the batter's face; Asif shoved him and raised his bat, and the two had to
be separated. Both were later fined 25% of their match fees for Level 1
breaches of the ICC Code of Conduct. Pakistan still won by one wicket,
Naseem Shah hitting two sixes off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the final over.
Why it mattered: the most talked-about over of his career
— and his best figures in a major tournament match.
3 for 14 vs Ireland — T20I best
T20I · Stormont, Belfast · 15 August 2022
His best T20I figures came at Stormont, Belfast, when he took 3 for 14
against Ireland. It was the sharp end of a summer in which he had already
taken his ODI best against Zimbabwe in June, and the two spells together
announced him as a bowler Afghanistan could turn to in any format. Four
years on, no T20I spell of his has bettered 3 for 14.
Why it mattered: still his best T20I figures, four years
on.
Bowling the final over of a two-run win
APL 2018 · Kabul Zwanan vs Kandahar Knights · Sharjah · 11 October 2018
Kandahar Knights needed 15 off the last over with Riki Wessels set, and
Farid Ahmad was handed the ball. He conceded 12 — one, one, four, dot,
dot, six — including a six off the final ball, and Kabul still won by two
runs. He finished with 3-0-27-0, and had earlier caught Paul Stirling off
Wayne Parnell's bowling for a duck. Kabul went top of the table with the
win.
Why it mattered: the over that put Kabul top of the table
— and a reminder that death bowling is judged on the result, not the last
ball.
3 for 20 vs India in the double Super Over game
T20I · M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru · 17 January 2024
India posted 212, and Farid Ahmad took 3 for 20 in four overs at five runs
an over — the most economical Afghan spell of the night. The match was tied
twice, and India won the second Super Over. It was his best return against
a full-strength India side, and it came in one of the most dramatic T20Is
Afghanistan have ever played.
Why it mattered: his best figures against a full-strength
India, on a night when 212 was not enough.
Playing style and strengths
Farid Ahmad is a left-arm fast-medium bowler who does his best work with the new
ball and at the death, in that order. He is not express — his stock is swing and
seam movement up front, cutters and a slower bouncer when the batters are set,
and a willingness to bowl the hard overs. The slower bouncer that dismissed Asif
Ali at the 2022 Asia Cup is the ball he is best known for, and his T20I economy
of 8.80 across 39 matches is the mark of a bowler captains trust when the game
is on the line. In Test cricket the same patience shows differently: 2 for 27
in 14 overs on debut, at 2.73 runs an over, with five maidens.
With the bat he is a left-hander who hits down the order — a highest score of
24 not out in T20Is and 17 in both ODIs and Tests — and his most useful innings
may be the 14 not out off nine balls that helped Kabul Zwanan chase 219 against
Paktia Panthers in the first APL match in 2018, with two fours in the
penultimate over. He is safe in the field, with six catches in T20Is and three
in ODIs, and his left arm gives a captain a different angle in an attack that,
for Afghanistan, is usually built around spin.
Records and milestones
ODI debut on 2 December 2014 vs UAE at the ICC Academy, Dubai — 0 for 44 in six overs; Afghanistan won by two wickets.
T20I debut on 14 December 2016 vs UAE at the ICC Academy, Dubai.
Test debut, his only Test so far, on 2 January 2025 vs Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo — 2 for 27 and 0 for 44, with 17 and 2 not out; Afghanistan won by 72 runs.
ODI best: 3 for 56 vs Zimbabwe, Harare, 6 June 2022 — the best Afghan figures in a series-clinching eight-wicket win.
T20I best: 3 for 14 vs Ireland, Belfast, 15 August 2022.
3 for 31 vs Pakistan, Asia Cup Super Four, Sharjah, 7 September 2022; the Asif Ali confrontation that followed saw both players fined 25% of their match fees for Level 1 breaches.
Asian Games: competed at Incheon 2014 aged 20, before his ODI debut, as Afghanistan took silver; nine years later his 3 for 15 against Pakistan in the Hangzhou semi-final on 6 October 2023 confirmed another silver.
3 for 20 vs India, Bengaluru, 17 January 2024 — in the match that needed two Super Overs to decide it.
Six wickets in the 2017 Desert T20 Cup, which Afghanistan won — his first tournament title with the national side.
APL 2018: nine matches for Kabul Zwanan, seven wickets at 38.00 and 18 runs, as Kabul finished runners-up; he bowled the final over of the two-run win over Kandahar Knights on 11 October 2018.
Gold pick for Kandahar Warriors in 2026 — the Warriors' third Gold selection, for a reported US$40,000; he is one of only three Kandahar Gold picks with APL experience from 2018, alongside Karim Janat and Tymal Mills.
Career outside APL
Farid Ahmad Malik was born in Nangarhar on 10 August 1994. His name is usually
spelled Fareed Ahmad in scorecards and profiles; this site uses the spelling
Farid Ahmad Malik. He made his first-class debut for Afghanistan A against
Zimbabwe A at Harare on 27 July 2014, four months before his ODI debut, and he
was part of Afghanistan's squad at the Asian Games in Incheon that September, at
20, as the side took silver. His ODI debut followed on 2 December 2014 against
the United Arab Emirates at the ICC Academy in Dubai: six overs, 44 runs, no
wicket, in a two-wicket win. His T20I debut came two years later, against the
same opponents at the same ground, on 14 December 2016. At home he has played
for Speen Ghar, Amo, Band-e-Amir, Kabul Eagles and Boost Defenders in the
Shpageeza League and the one-day tournament, and for Mahipar Stars, Hindukush
Strikers and Pamir Legends in the newer domestic competitions.
International cricket has come in bursts rather than in a steady run. He took six
wickets in the Desert T20 Cup in January 2017, which Afghanistan won, and then
waited for his chances: his ODI best of 3 for 56 came against Zimbabwe at Harare
in June 2022, his T20I best of 3 for 14 against Ireland at Belfast two months
later, and his most famous spell — 3 for 31 against Pakistan at the Asia Cup in
Sharjah in September 2022 — ended with the Asif Ali confrontation and a 25%
match-fee fine for both players. He was a travelling reserve at the 2021 T20
World Cup, a stand-by for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, and in the 15-member
squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States —
without playing a match at any of the three tournaments. His Test debut finally
came on 2 January 2025, against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo: 2 for 27 in the first
innings, 17 with the bat, and a 72-run win. He was not in Afghanistan's squad
for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
The franchise leagues have given him the regular cricket the national side has
not. Sunrisers Eastern Cape signed him on 23 January 2024 for the rest of the
SA20 season, replacing the injured Craig Overton, and he was part of the squad
that won the title — though he did not play a game. MI Emirates signed him for
the third season of the ILT20 in 2025, and he was on the bench for the
Eliminator against Sharjah Warriorz on 6 February 2025. Sharjah Warriorz then
bought him for US$40,000 at the Season 5 auction on 1 October 2026, for the
season that runs from 21 November to 20 December 2026 — the same auction at
which his new Kandahar team-mate Sharafuddin Ashraf also joined the Warriorz,
for the same price. He has also played in the Abu Dhabi T10 for Northern
Warriors, taking 1 for 24 against Chennai Brave Jaguars on 23 November 2024.
He has not played in the IPL, the BBL, the PSL or The Hundred.
As of November 2026 his international record stands at one Test with two wickets
at 35.50, 20 ODIs with 25 wickets at 29.28 and a best of 3 for 56, and 39 T20Is
with 48 wickets at 22.02 and a best of 3 for 14. In domestic cricket he has 115
first-class wickets in 31 matches at 27.70, with a best of 6 for 27, 57 List A
wickets in 51 matches, and 95 wickets in 94 T20 matches overall. He arrives at
the APL as a 32-year-old left-arm seamer with a Test cap, two Asian Games medals
and a title in South Africa behind him — and with eight years of APL history
already in his legs.
Which team does Farid Ahmad Malik play for in APL 2026?
Farid Ahmad Malik plays for Kandahar Warriors in APL T20 2026. He was the Warriors' third pick of the Gold round at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, for a reported US$40,000. Kandahar are captained by Rashid Khan, coached by Ravi Bopara and mentored by Irfan Pathan, and the season starts on 27 December 2026 in the UAE.
Did Farid Ahmad Malik play in the first APL season in 2018?
Yes. Farid Ahmad played nine of Kabul Zwanan's ten matches in the first APL season in Sharjah in October 2018, taking seven wickets at 38.00 and making 18 runs, as Kabul finished runners-up. He missed only the final league match against Paktia Panthers on 18 October, and in the final against Balkh Legends he conceded the title-winning six to Gulbadin Naib.
What is his best bowling in international cricket?
His best T20I figures are 3 for 14 against Ireland at Belfast on 15 August 2022, and his best ODI figures are 3 for 56 against Zimbabwe at Harare on 6 June 2022. In his only Test so far, against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in January 2025, he took 2 for 27 in the first innings. In all he has 48 wickets in 39 T20Is and 25 in 20 ODIs.
What happened between Farid Ahmad Malik and Asif Ali at the 2022 Asia Cup?
In the Super Four match at Sharjah on 7 September 2022, Farid Ahmad dismissed Asif Ali for 16 with a slower bouncer in the 19th over, then celebrated in the batter's face. Asif shoved him and raised his bat, and the ICC fined both players 25% of their match fees for Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct. Pakistan won the match by one wicket.
Which other leagues has Farid Ahmad Malik played in?
He was in the Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad that won the SA20 in 2024, without playing a game, and in the MI Emirates squad for the ILT20 in 2025. Sharjah Warriorz bought him for US$40,000 for the ILT20 Season 5 starting on 21 November 2026, and he played in the Abu Dhabi T10 for Northern Warriors in 2024. He has not played in the IPL, the BBL, the PSL or The Hundred.
