Afghanistan’s cricketing scene has steadily improved, particularly in domestic events.
One such domestic tournament, the Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan Provincial Grade II, concluded on December 12, with the best eight teams from forty competing sides qualifying for the Provincial Grade I tournament.
The month-long contest began on November 13 in seven venues in Nangarhar, Kunar, Khost, and Kandahar and concluded on Friday, with the top eight teams dominating to secure a spot in the top-tier national event that followed. Nangarhar, Nangarhar B, Khost, and Khost B are some of the teams who qualified. Kabul A, Logar, Paktika, and Kandahar A all made it through.
It is worth noting that the Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan Provincial Grade II Tournament is an annual event organised by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) and held throughout Afghanistan with the goal of improving possibilities for top teams and higher-level players. The ACB pays special attention to this tournament through its Domestic Cricket Department.
Following the tournament’s recent success, another provincial T20 format has been added to its expansion ambitions for domestic cricket. However, the primary goal of this newly added event will be to handpick players to flourish in white-ball formats, since both List A and 20-over cricket will be highlighted.
A little while back, the ACB also made it official that they will be launching the first-ever season of the Afghanistan Premier League T20 — a franchise-based tournament, wherein both homegrown and overseas players will be able to participate. The official launch of the league will be held a few days later in the U.A.E., however, it is unclear as to where the tournament will be played. As a result, the domestic and franchise tournament are certainly going to complement each other.
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