Balkh Legends captain Mohammad Nabi said that the first edition of the APL has been a blessing for Afghanistan

sharjah — The Balkh Legends laid their hands on the first ever Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League title (APL) by defeating Kabul Zwanan at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium late on Sunday night.

West Indian Chris ‘Universe Boss’ Gayle’s fourth back-toback half century and 18-yearold leg-spinner Qais Ahmed’s fifer saw the Legends win by four wickets in the final.

The scheduling, where Zwanan had to play the semifinal late on Saturday night and then the final, told in the end as they looked under-cooked on the night. Zwanan spluttered to 132 for nine, a total well under par and too little to cause any alarms for the well-rested Legends.

Zwanan made things interesting with Wayne Parnell removing opener Colin Munro and the young Darwish Rasooli early and although wickets fell regularly thereafter, the Legends knocked off the runs with 11 balls to spare.

Gayle made use of the two reprieves when on 10 and 37, to score 56 from 34 deliveries with four boundaries and an equal number of sixes.

Qais had had Zwanan under the pump with his five-for. His victims were Parnell, Javed Ahmadi, Laurie Evans, captain Rashid Khan and Muslim Musa.

It was Qais’ best bowling figures in T20s with his five for 18 eclipsing the three for 15 in his 18th match. It was the best bowling figures of the tournament and the five-for was the second fivewicket haul of the tournament after Nangarhar Leopards captain Ben Cutting had taken five for 28 against the Kandahar Knights, early on in the competition.

Qais also sits third on most wicket takers list with 15 from nine fixtures. Sri Lankan left-arm pacer Isuru Udana tops the list with 17 wickets from eight matches, while Kandahar Knights left-arm pacer Sayed Shirzad is second with 16 wickets.