The Green Afghanistan One Day Cup is (also known Super Cola Green Afghanistan One Day Cup for sponsorship reasons) Afghanistan Cricket Board is an introduces a new domestic one-day event, called Green Afghanistan One Day Cup.cricket tournament organized by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) that forms part of the Afghanistan domestic cricket season.is List A 50-over limited-overs cricket tournament.in Afghanistan.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
The tournament is contested between teams representing the 4 Afghanistan Domestic Cricket Team.
History
The three teams are named Maiwand Defenders, Pamir Legends and Hindukush Strikers with the names being driven from the two of the highest peaks Pamir and Hindukush respectively, whereas the Maiwand is an area in western Kandahar province with historical significance in the country.
The tournament will be played in a one-day format and a total of 7 games will be played across 12 days. All the three teams will face each other twice in the first round followed by a final on May 20.
The three participating teams will feature all the available national-level players competing against each other to prepare for the upcoming international assignments. To promote young cricketers, all the three teams will include some of the best young players who are part of the emerging and development programs of the ACB.
ACB Chairman Mr. Mirwais Ashraf: “Our nation loves the game of cricket and we are trying to further develop the game in the country. The tournament will see a greater involvement of senior players with the junior-level players, which helps in the overall skill building of the players as well as contributes to the elevation of the game in the region, I argue the fans to come and watch these games in the stadium”.
“We have an eye on our Super League games in the coming months, so this tournament will add more match-time preparation for our players going forward to their international assignments”. He added.
Naseeb Khan, the ACB CEO: “The name “Green Afghanistan” is given to the event to further expose the natural beauty of Afghanistan. We expect the fans in Khost and the contiguous provinces to enjoy the Eid festival in the stadium as the national heroes bring happiness and joy to the region”.
The domestic structure of Afghanistan includes a regional List-A event alongside multiple provincial Grade Level one-day competitions, but adding this mega event to the domestic circuit will add more diversity to the structure and will further enhance the quality of the game in the country.
The Green Afghanistan One Day Cup 2022, which was commenced on May 8 in Khost Province, ended with the Hindukush Strikers crowned champions, beating the Pamir Legends by 3 wickets in the Grand Final of the event.
The event featured 3 teams, the Hindukush Strikers, Pamir Legends and the Maiwand Defenders. All the participating teams, in a double round-robin format played 4 games in the league stage among which the top two of the table the strikers and legends have advanced to the final of the event.
At the final match, the Pamir Legends opted to bat first and have managed to score 172/4 in 39 overs before some bad weather and a slight drizzle reduced the game to 39, then to 36 and then to 33 overs, where according to the DLS method, the revised target was set 204 runs for the Hindukush Strikers to chase in 33 overs.
Hindukush Strikers got off to a decent start and banking on the half-centuries by Ibrahim Zadran and Bahir Shah and a quick-fire cameo by Najibullah Zadran, chased down the total in the last over with 3 wickets to spare to win the title of the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup 2022.
Ibrahim Zadran was adjudged as the player of the match for his 60 runs in the 2nd inning. Shahidullah Kamal who had scored 271 runs at an average of 67.75 including 3 half-centuries to his name in the event was awarded as the best batter of the tournament. The left-arm spinner Zia Akbar who had taken 14 wickets at a bowling average of 12 runs, was awarded as the best bowler of the event.
Sediqullah Atal was awarded as the emerging player of the event, where Ibrahim Zadran, who had scored 254 runs with a hundred and a half-century to his name was declared as the best player of the tournament.
The tournament was regarded as the best initiative to provide enough preparation for the national players going to the Zimbabwe tour as well as built an excellent platform for the youngsters to play alongside their senior players and have their skills and capacities developed.
The Super Cola Green Afghanistan One-Day Cup 2023 Grand Finale was played today, with the second inning of the match being washed out this afternoon, leading to a No-Result and both teams being crowned Joint-Winners.
Earlier in the morning, the Pamir Legends opted to field first Hashmatullah Shahidi scored an incredible 124, Sediqullah Atal made 53 whereas Ikram Alikhil contributed with 40 runs to push the Maiwand Defenders to 296/8 in the first inning. Sharafuddin Ashraf took 3, whereas Zahir Khan and Gulbadin Naib returned with 2 wickets each.
In reply, the 2nd inning only saw 7 overs to be bowled, in which the Pamir Legends made 45/1 before the rain interrupted the game. The rain got heavier and heavier which washed out the game and both teams were jointly declared as the winners of the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup 2023.
Wafiullah Tarakhil, who made 136 runs in his debut season, was declared as the Emerging Player of the Tournament. Rahmat Shah was awarded the best batter of the Tournament for his 367 runs at 91.75. Zahir Khan, who took 19 wickets in the event, was awarded the best bowler of the event, and the Best Player of the Event Award was awarded to Gulbadin Naib, who struck 150 runs at 37.50 and took 11 wickets in the event.
This was the 2nd edition of the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup, which started on April 29 between 4 teams and ended today, with the Pamir Legends and the Maiwand Defenders, being jointly crowned champions.
