Afghanistan National Cricket Team League: Shpageeza Cricket League Teams, Champions and History

The Afghanistan national cricket team league is the Shpageeza Cricket League, a Twenty20 competition run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board. Fans who search for the league of the Afghanistan team land on this event, because the Shpageeza Cricket League is the top domestic T20 stage of the country and the home league of almost every star of the national side. Five regional teams fight for the trophy each season, and the biggest names of Afghan cricket, from Rashid Khan to Rahmanullah Gurbaz, play in front of home crowds.

The league began in 2013 and has grown into the heartbeat of the domestic game in Afghanistan. The most recent season, played in Khost in July 2026, ended with a third straight title for the Amo Sharks. This guide covers the history of the league, the five teams, the 2026 season, the full list of champions, the star players, and the road from the Shpageeza grounds to the national team.

Afghanistan National Cricket Team League

The phrase Afghanistan national cricket team league points to the Shpageeza Cricket League, the premier Twenty20 league of Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Cricket Board owns and runs the competition, and the board uses the league as the top level of the domestic T20 structure of the country. National team players, Afghanistan A players, under-19 talent and the best regional performers all share the same dressing rooms during the event.

The name Shpageeza comes from the Pashto language and means sixer. The name fits the product, because the league sells big hitting, packed grounds and fearless young talent. The event carries official Twenty20 status, and every match feeds the selection debate for the national team.

Each team represents a region of Afghanistan, so the league also works as a map of Afghan cricket. The Amo region covers the north of the country, the Speenghar region covers the east, and the Mis Ainak region covers the south-east. Fans back the team of the home region, and that regional pride gives the league a special heat.

History of the Shpageeza Cricket League

The Afghanistan Cricket Board launched the Shpageeza Cricket League in 2013, at a time when T20 cricket was rising fast across the world. The first edition took place in Kabul, and the Speenghar Tigers won the first title. The early seasons used the Alokozay Kabul International Cricket Stadium as the home of the event, and the league soon became the biggest sporting show of the Afghan summer.

The league gained official Twenty20 status in 2017, the same year the Band-e-Amir Dragons, led by a young Rashid Khan, lifted the trophy. The Kabul Eagles won the title in 2016 and again in 2020, and the Mis-e-Ainak Knights took the crown in 2014 and 2019. The Speenghar Tigers added a third title in 2022 and stood level at the top of the winners list.

The league has faced gaps in the calendar in some years, but the Afghanistan Cricket Board has kept the event alive and growing. The 2024 season began a new era, as the Amo Sharks won the first of three straight titles. The 2026 edition made history for a new reason, because the league moved out of Kabul for the first time and filled the Rahmat Wali Masroor Cricket Ground in Khost Province.

Teams of the Shpageeza Cricket League

Five regional teams play in the current format of the league. Each side plays every other side twice in a double round-robin league stage, and the top two teams meet in the Grand Finale. A full season carries 21 matches, and the short format keeps every game alive in the race for the final.

The five teams carry the names of the great regions and landmarks of Afghanistan. The Amo Sharks take the name from the Amo River of the north. The Band-e-Amir Dragons take the name from the famous lakes of Bamyan. The Mis-e-Ainak Knights, the Bost Defenders and the Speenghar Tigers complete the set. Two older names from past editions, the Kabul Eagles and short-lived sides such as the Hindukush Stars and the Pamir Zalmi, also hold a place in the story of the league.

Shpageeza Cricket League 2026: Amo Sharks Complete a Hat-Trick of Titles

The 11th edition of the league ran from 1 July to 15 July 2026 and broke new ground in every sense. The Afghanistan Cricket Board took the event to Khost Province for the first time, and the Rahmat Wali Masroor Cricket Ground hosted all 21 matches. The Speenghar Tigers topped the league table with 13 points, and the Amo Sharks joined the Tigers in the final with 11 points. The Mis-e-Ainak Knights finished third, the Bost Defenders finished fourth, and the Band-e-Amir Dragons lost all eight matches of a season to forget.

The final, played on 15 July, began with a collapse. The Speenghar Tigers lost two wickets in the first three balls and slipped to 46 for five, before Ismat Alam fought back with 67 runs and Rashid Khan added a quick 27. The Tigers reached 166. The reply was a one-sided show. Imran Mir smashed 77 runs and Hassan Eisakhil stayed unbeaten on 63, and the Amo Sharks chased the target in 16.1 overs to win by seven wickets and complete a hat-trick of titles under captain Yamin Ahmadzai. Imran Mir took the Player of the Match award in the final.

The awards list told the story of the season. Ismat Alam won the Player of the Tournament award after 294 runs and nine wickets for the Tigers. Rahmanullah Gurbaz of the Mis-e-Ainak Knights topped the run chart with 410 runs at an average of 68.33, hit 34 sixes, and also smashed a hundred off 41 balls against the Band-e-Amir Dragons. Khalil Gurbaz, also of the Knights, took 14 wickets and won the best bowler award. The young Amo Sharks batter Faisal Shinozada, with 161 runs and two half-centuries, took the Emerging Player of the Tournament award.

The season also carried a sad note. The schedule shifted after the death of the former Afghanistan fast bowler Shapoor Zadran during the event, and the league paused in respect before the final run of matches.

The title defence followed a familiar script from the season before. In the 2025 final at Kabul, the Amo Sharks of captain Azmatullah Omarzai bowled the Mis-e-Ainak Knights out for 121 and chased the target in 12.4 overs to win by eight wickets, with Omarzai taking four wickets for 21 runs in the final. Hashmatullah Shahidi topped the run chart of the 2025 season with 321 runs, and Sharafuddin Ashraf led the bowling chart with 14 wickets.

Shpageeza Cricket League Champions and Past Winners

The winners list of the league shows a clear pattern of dynasties. The Speenghar Tigers won the first title in 2013 and added crowns in 2015 and 2022. The Amo Sharks now stand level with the Tigers on three titles after the hat-trick of 2024, 2025 and 2026. The Mis-e-Ainak Knights have reached five finals, more than any other team, and won two of them. The Kabul Eagles won twice before the side left the league, and the Band-e-Amir Dragons hold one title.

Star Players of the Afghanistan National Team in the League

The biggest pull of the league is the sight of the national heroes on home soil. Rashid Khan, the face of Afghanistan cricket, has played the league across the years and led the Band-e-Amir Dragons to the title in 2017. In 2025 he captained the Speenghar Tigers, and in 2026 he turned out for the Tigers again and played a fighting knock of 27 in the final. Readers can follow the full career story in the Rashid Khan biography on this site.

Mohammad Nabi, the veteran all-rounder and former national captain, remains a central figure of the league. He featured again in the 2026 season and produced one of the knocks of the tournament, a blazing 90 off 52 balls for the Mis-e-Ainak Knights against the Speenghar Tigers.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz captained the Mis-e-Ainak Knights in both 2025 and 2026 and owned the 2026 season with the bat. The season of 2025 showed the full galaxy of the national side: the five captains were Rashid Khan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai and Hashmatullah Shahidi, and names such as Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad and Gulbadin Naib filled the squads. The same stars also light up leagues around the world, but the Shpageeza Cricket League is the one stage where the fans of Afghanistan watch them all together at home.

How the League Feeds the Afghanistan National Team

Afghanistan has a compact domestic system, so the Shpageeza Cricket League carries a huge weight in selection. The Afghanistan Cricket Board treats the league as the top trial ground of the country. Young players share a dressing room with the national stars, face international-class bowling under lights, and play in front of television cameras and full stands.

The league keeps a formal door open for the next generation through the Emerging Player of the Tournament award. Khalid Taniwal won the award in 2025 after 279 runs and a century for the Mis-e-Ainak Knights, and Faisal Shinozada won the award in 2026. Fast hundreds and five-wicket hauls in this league travel fast, and the selectors watch every match of the event.

The record books of the league also shape reputations. The Mis-e-Ainak Knights posted 264 for two in 2025, the highest total in the history of the league, and the young Amo Sharks batter Noor Ul Rahman hit the fastest hundred in league history in the same season, a century off 40 balls. Performances of that weight turn regional players into national team names, and the squad announcements of the national side, such as the Afghanistan squad for Ireland ODI series covered on this site, always carry men who made a name in this league.

Other Domestic Tournaments in Afghanistan

The Shpageeza Cricket League is the T20 peak of a wider domestic structure. The Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament is the List A one-day competition of Afghanistan. The tournament began in 2017, the year it gained List A status, uses the same five regions, and the ninth edition ran from 17 May to 4 June 2026 in Nangarhar Province. The Speenghar Region beat the Amo Region by 84 runs in the final to take the 2026 title.

The Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament is the first-class competition of the country and the test of patience for Afghan cricketers. The ninth edition of the event followed in September 2026, in line with the calendar of the Afghanistan Cricket Board. Together, the three tournaments give a young Afghan player a full path: first-class cricket for technique, the one-day cup for the 50-over game, and the Shpageeza Cricket League for the fast T20 stage.

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