Dawood Ahmadzai

Profile details

FULL NAME

Dawood Ahmadzai

PLAYING ROLE

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TEAMS

Akcel United Kabul

Dawood Ahmadzai — Bowler

Dawood Ahmadzai arrived at the Afghanistan Premier League by the longest road of any player in the 2026 draft — a leg-break bowler, born in Afghanistan, who plays international cricket for France.

Kabul took him in the Silver category at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, for a reported US$20,000, completing a 19-man Akcel United Kabul squad led by captain Azmatullah Omarzai. His full name is Mouhammad Dawood Ahmadzai, and his story is unlike anyone else’s in the squad: born in Afghanistan on 25 February 1994, he plays his international cricket for France.

He made his T20I debut for France on 5 August 2021 against Norway in Krefeld, and has since played 52 T20Is for them, taking 62 wickets with his leg-breaks. That is a serious record at any level — more than a wicket a match, from a bowler who turns the ball away from right-handers and has spent five years as his country’s frontline spinner.

For Kabul he is a different kind of option again: not Mujeeb’s off-breaks, not Sharafuddin’s left-arm orthodox, not Tahir’s googly, but a leg-break bowler of his own, right-handed with the bat. In a squad built around spin, Ahmadzai is the depth that lets Shane McDermott keep attacking even when a frontline spinner has an off day.

APL 2026-27 in numbers

The season has not started yet, so Dawood Ahmadzai has no APL 2026-27 numbers at all. The first ball is on Sunday 27 December 2026 at 5:30 PM Afghanistan time (5:00 PM Dubai time) in the UAE, and this page will carry his season figures from Match 1 onwards. Until then, the table below is honest: played 0, and everything else to be announced.

What he brings into the season, in verified figures:

Season figures are to be announced — the season starts on 27 December 2026. Career figures are from the verified player record.

Where he fits at Akcel United Kabul

Dawood Ahmadzai plays for Akcel United Kabul in APL 2026-27, captained by Azmatullah Omarzai and coached by Shane McDermott, with Nikhil Chopra as mentor. The squad of nineteen was set at the draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026 — 90 players picked from 462 across 18 rounds.

Ahmadzai is Kabul’s fourth spinner, and that depth is the point: Mujeeb, Sharafuddin, Tahir and Ahmadzai give McDermott four different kinds of turn, so the attack never has to bowl a seamer into a batter who is set against pace. The season starts on Sunday 27 December 2026 in the UAE; Afghanistan Premier League 2026 will follow every Kabul match, with fixtures on the APL Schedule and the standings on the APL Points Table. The full squad is on the APL Players page.

Five teams chase four playoff places in a double round-robin, so every team plays eight league matches — each opponent twice — and one side goes home after the league stage. The final is on Wednesday 20 January 2027. Kabul are a new club with no APL record yet, and that is the point: everything this squad does in 2026-27 will be a first.