Countries | ![]() |
---|---|
Administrator | Afghanistan Cricket Board |
Format | First-class cricket (from 2017 onwards) |
First edition | 2011 |
Latest edition | 2025 |
Tournament format | Double round-robin |
Number of teams | 5 |
Current champion | Maiwand Champions (2nd title) |
Most successful | Band-e-Amir Region (3) |
Website | http://www.cricket.af/ |
Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament is a four-day cricket tournament in Afghanistan played between regional teams, each representing a number of Afghan provinces.
Up to and including the 2016–17 Tournament, the matches were not given first-class status. However, at an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in February 2017, first-class status was awarded to all future matches, starting with the 2017–18 tournament. [1] [2] [3] It is named after founder of the Durrani Empire, Ahmad Shah Durrani.
Afghanistan's multi-day tournament, the Ahmad Shah Abdali tournament, initially began as a three-day competition hosted in Peshawar, Pakistan in 2011 [4] before being held in Afghanistan for all subsequent seasons. It transitioned to a four-day structure in 2014, with five regional teams competing - Amo, Band-e-Amir, Boost, Mis Ainak and Speen Ghar. A sixth team, Kabul, joined the competition in 2016. The Afghanistan Under-19 cricket team participated in the inaugural 2011 season only. [4] The teams play each other twice before the two sides at the top of the table play for the end of season championship. The competition runs from September through December. [5] [6] In February 2017 the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded first-class status to Afghanistan's four-day domestic competition. [7]
Current teams (2023) | Debut year | Wins |
---|---|---|
Hindukush Strikers | 2023 | |
Mah-e-Par Stars | 2023 | |
Maiwand Champions | 2023 | 2023, 2025 |
Pamir Legends | 2023 | 2024–25 |
Former teams | Home ground | Years active |
---|---|---|
Amo Region | Balkh Cricket Stadium, Mazar-i-Sharif | 2011–2022 |
Band-e-Amir Region | Ghazni Cricket Ground, Ghazni | 2011–2022 |
Boost Region | Kandahar International Cricket Stadium, Kandahar | 2011–2022 |
Mis Ainak Region | Khost Cricket Stadium, Khost | 2011–2022 |
Speen Ghar Region | Ghazi Amanullah International Cricket Stadium, Jalalabad | 2011–2022 |
Afghanistan Under-19 | 2011 | |
Kabul Region | Alokozay Kabul International Cricket Ground, Kabul | 2016–2019 |
This table lists all the champions of the Ahmad Shah Abdali Regional Tournament during the competition's pre-first-class era under the 3-Day (2011-2013) and 4-Day formats (2014 onwards).
Season | Winner (number of titles) | Runners-up |
---|---|---|
2011 [8] [9] [10] | Mis Ainak Region (1) [11] | Band-e-Amir Region |
2012 [12] [13] | Mis Ainak Region (2) [14] | Speen Ghar Region |
2013 [15] [16] [17] | Boost Region (1) [18] | Band-e-Amir Region |
2014–15 [19] | Mis Ainak Region (3) [20] | Speen Ghar Region |
2015–16 [21] | Mis Ainak Region (4) [22] | Speen Ghar Region |
2016 [23] [24] | Speen Ghar Region (1) [25] [26] | Mis Ainak Region |
This table lists all the champions of the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament during the competition's first-class era.
Season | Winner (number of titles) | Runners-up | Leading run-scorer (club) | Runs | Leading wicket-taker (club) | Wickets |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017–18 | Band-e-Amir Region (1) [27] | Speen Ghar Region | Bahir Shah (Speen Ghar Region) | 1096 | Zia-ur-Rehman (Mis Ainak Region) Waqar Salamkheil (Band-e-Amir Region) Zahir Shehzad (Speen Ghar Region) | 55 |
2018 | Band-e-Amir Region (2) [28] | Amo Region | Darwish Rasooli (Amo Region) | 1073 | Amir Hamza (Band-e-Amir Region) | 61 |
2019 | Speen Ghar Region (1) [29] | Amo Region | Najeeb Tarakai (Speen Ghar Region) | 828 | Zohaib Ahmadzai (Amo Region) | 46 |
2021 | Band-e-Amir Region (3) [30] | Amo Region | Riaz Hassan (Band-e-Amir Region) | 636 | Zohaib Ahmadzai (Amo Region) | 32 |
2022 | Amo Region (1) [31] | Band-e-Amir Region | Karim Janat (Band-e-Amir Region) | 561 | Amir Hamza (Band-e-Amir Region) | 30 |
2023 | Maiwand Champions (1) | Hindukush Strikers | ||||
2024–25 | Pamir Legends (1) | Maiwand Champions | Ismat Alam (Pamir Legends) | 723 | Yamin Ahmadzai (Maiwand Champions) Fareed Ahmad (Pamir Legends) | 36 |
2025 | Maiwand Champions (2) | Mah-e-Par Stars | Shahidullah (Mah-e-Par Stars) | 541 | Sharafuddin Ashraf (Mah-e-Par Stars) | 36 |