Nangarhar Cosmic — Squad, Results & APL 2026-27

Team information

Captain

Rahmat Shah

Coach

Toby Radford

Titles

None yet

Season so far

Nangarhar Cosmic’s story starts with a swap. In the leaders’ draft on 25 October 2026, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was first named for Nangarhar and Rahmat Shah for Paktia. On 3 November, the two changed places — the only swap in the whole draft, and it was between two captains. So Cosmic are led by Rahmat Shah, who has been Afghanistan’s Test and ODI captain since 22 July 2026, after Hashmatullah Shahidi resigned.

The 2018 side from the city was Nangarhar Leopards, who reached a semi-final and were bowled out for 64 by Balkh Legends. That club is not this club, and its record stays with it. Cosmic start 2026-27 with a blank record: played 0, won 0.

The draft gave Radford a top order with real pedigree. Alex Hales was the Platinum pick, an England opener; Darwish Rasooli and Shakib Al Hasan came in Diamond; Kamindu Mendis, Ziawrahman Sharifi, Mohammad Akram Zazai, Ikram Alikhil and Junaid Siddique in Gold. Cosmic also won both the Silver game and the Emerging game at the APL Huddle, so they held the first pick in the opening round of each of those categories — a useful place to build a middle order and a local core.

APL Schedule · APL Points Table · APL Results · Afghanistan Premier League

What to watch

The top order is the argument for this team. Hales at the top, Rahmat at three, Rasooli and Kamindu Mendis behind them — four batters who have all made runs at international level, in a league where most sides have two. Shakib Al Hasan bats in the middle and bowls his left-arm spin, so Cosmic can play an extra batter without losing a bowling option.

The bowling leans on experience too. Junaid Siddique’s pace, Zahir Khan’s wrist spin and Aftab Alam’s seam give Radford three different ways through an innings, and Shakib’s four overs of left-arm spin tie the attack together. The question is depth: behind the five overseas names, the Afghan core is young — Faisal Khan Shinozada, Bahar Ali Shinwari and Islam Khan Zazai are all Emerging picks, and the league’s playing conditions let a side include one emerging player in its XI.

Watch Ikram Alikhil. He keeps wicket and bats in the middle order, and in a side full of overseas stars he is the local player most likely to hold a place all season. If Cosmic’s top order fires, Alikhil will be the one finishing games; if it does not, he will be the one holding them together.

Nangarhar Cosmic squad

Nineteen players are verified for APL 2026-27, from the ACB draft release of 3 November 2026 in Dubai. Alex Hales was the Platinum pick, Darwish Rasooli and Shakib Al Hasan came in Diamond, and Kamindu Mendis led the Gold picks. Toby Radford is head coach, with Mark Boucher as mentor.

Squad verified against the ACB draft release, 3 November 2026, Dubai. Roles marked — are not stated in the release. Captain: Rahmat Shah. Head coach: Toby Radford. Mentor: Mark Boucher.

Points table

Five teams chase four playoff places, so one side goes home after the league stage. Each team plays eight league matches — every opponent twice — and a win is worth 2 points. Sixteen points is the maximum; four wins should be enough to stay in the race, and net run rate decides the ties. The table below is empty because the season has not started: every team begins on 0 points, and the first update comes after Match 1 on 27 December.

Nangarhar’s route runs through their top order. If Hales, Rahmat and Rasooli score the runs this squad is built to score, Cosmic will not need to worry about the last week of the league stage. SialTV will update this page after every match day, through the final on 20 January 2027.

Pre-season table — every team starts on 0 points. The first update comes after Match 1 on 27 December 2026.