The Balkh Legends trounce the Kabul Zwanan in the final match of the Afghanistan Premier League (Gulbahar T20 League) to clinch the inaugural APL 2018 trophy in the Sharja International Cricket Stadium on Sunday night.
The Kabul Zwanan won the toss and elected to bat first against the Legends. The Zwanan set a target of 133 with the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 20 overs—the lowest total of the final competition.
Wayne Parnell starred with bat and ball but couldn’t prevent the Balkh Legends from defeating Zwanan by four wickets with 11 balls in hand to take the inaugural APL title in Sharjah.
Parnell scored 21 off 25 balls, Colin Ingram 21 off 19 and Javed Ahmadi top-scored with 32 off 19 balls as the Zwanan struggled to reach 132-9 off their 20 overs, their lowest score of the tournament.
The 18-year-old Afghan novice Qais Ahmad took an incredible five wickets for 18 runs to rock the Zwanan batting lineup. Ahmad’s wickets included Parnell, Ahmadi, Laurie Evans and Zwanan captain Rashid Khan.
In response, the Legends then picked off the runs with ease, Bopara ending 32 not out off 29 balls and watching from the non-striker’s end as Gulbadin Naib smashed Fareed Ahmad for a six in the 19th over to clinch the title.
However, the Balkh Legends managed to chase the given target during the 18.1 over of the game by losing six wickets.
Qais Ahmad was declared the player of the match for his outstanding figures that had restricted Zwanan to 132-9 and set up a fairly comfortable match to victory for his teammates.
Zwanan skipper Rashid Khan was named player of the tournament.
The Afghan Premier League kicked off on October 5 and 23 matches were played between five teams (Nangarhar Leopards, Kandahar Knights, Paktia Panthers, Kabul Zwanan, and Balkh Legends).
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) in a statement said the champions of the Afghan Premier League received a cash award of $300,000 while Kabul Zwanan received a cash award of $100,000.
