Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament
Cricket tournament
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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.
Afghanistan| Countries | Afghanistan |
|---|---|
| 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/ |
 2026 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament | |
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.
History
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]
Teams
Former teams
| 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 |
Champions
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 |
See also
- Cricket in Afghanistan
- History of cricket
- Etisalat ODD Challenge Cup
- Shpageeza Cricket League