All-rounder Kandahar Warriors
Balkh's title-winning captain in 2018, back with Kandahar Warriors for APL 2026.
1
APL title
Champions
2018 finish
47 + 4 wkts
Semi-final, 2018
Diamond
2026 draft, first pick
Some older profiles give March 1985 and Peshawar for his birth. This page follows ESPNcricinfo: 1 January 1985, Logar.
Nabi arrived at the first APL season as the man in charge of Balkh Legends, and he left it holding the trophy. His side won six league games in 2018, playing the kind of settled cricket that comes from a captain who trusts his own bowling changes and his lower order. The semi-final against Nangarhar Leopards was the night the tournament turned his way: 47 runs from 16 balls, then four wickets with the new ball and through the middle, in a 171-run win that left no doubt about the finalists. Two days later Balkh chased 133 against Kabul Zwanan at Sharjah to take the title.
Eight years on, the league is back and so is Nabi, this time in Kandahar colours. The Warriors took him with the first pick of the Diamond round at the Dubai draft on 3 November 2026, a signing that gives Rashid Khan's side a second experienced head in the dressing room and a player who has already won this tournament. He arrives not as a prospect but as a former champion captain, and that is exactly how Kandahar will use him.
Personal batting and bowling aggregates for APL 2018 are not published in the sources used for this page, so they are marked To be confirmed rather than estimated from part-scorecards. The verified match figures that do exist are in the notable performances below.
| Season | Matches | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | Strike rate | 50s / 100s | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | To be confirmed | ||||||||
| 2026 | Season not started | ||||||||
| Season | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Best figures | Average | Economy | Strike rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | To be confirmed | ||||||
| 2026 | Season not started | ||||||
| Year | Team | Matches | Runs / Wickets | Team finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Balkh Legends | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | Champions |
| 2026 | Kandahar Warriors | Season not started | Season not started | To be confirmed |
47 off 16 balls, with 2 fours and 5 sixes, then 4 wickets, and Player of the Match. Balkh posted 235 for 5 and won by 171 runs to reach the final.
Why it mattered: the win was reported at the time as the second-largest margin of victory in T20 cricket.
40 runs the night before Balkh's low-scoring win over Nangarhar Leopards, part of a league run that carried the Legends to the top of the table.
Why it mattered: it kept Balkh's momentum going midway through the league stage.
2 for 20 in 4 overs, including the wickets of Luke Ronchi and Shahidullah, in a chase Balkh won by 8 wickets.
Why it mattered: an economical spell that kept a strong Kabul batting side to 176 for 6.
20 off 18 balls in Balkh's 143 for 7, a total Nangarhar could not chase as they were bowled out for 118 and Balkh won by 25 runs.
Why it mattered: runs that proved enough on a night when bowlers decided the game.
Watch Nabi in the APL and two things stand out. With the bat his value is in the last few overs, when he can swing freely: his semi-final 47 came from 16 balls, with five sixes, and it turned a strong total into an unreachable one. He is the player a captain sends in to change the pace of the last few overs.
With the ball he is a different kind of problem. He bowls right-arm off-spin, often with the new ball, and his semi-final spell showed why captains trust him early: three wickets in his opening spell, then a fourth later, all while Nangarhar chased 235. In the league games he was just as often the containing bowler, going for 20 runs in four overs against Kabul Zwanan when Balkh needed control. Add the captaincy, which he held for both Afghanistan and Balkh, and the picture is a player whose value is in reading a game and acting on it, not in one single skill.
Kandahar Warriors. The Warriors took him with the first pick of the Diamond round at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, where the Afghanistan Cricket Board listed him as Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil. He plays under captain Rashid Khan, with Ravi Bopara as head coach, in a 19-player squad.
He captained Balkh Legends to the title. His side won six league games, then beat Nangarhar Leopards by 171 runs in the semi-final, where Nabi scored 47 off 16 balls and took four wickets. Two days later Balkh beat Kabul Zwanan in the Sharjah final, chasing 133 with four wickets and 11 balls to spare.
He is an all-rounder. He bats right-handed, usually late in an innings where he can hit freely, and bowls right-arm off-spin, often with the new ball. He has captained at the highest level too, leading Afghanistan from 2013 to 2015 and Balkh Legends to the APL title in 2018. Sides value him as much for his reading of a game as for either skill alone.
Sunrisers Hyderabad from 2017 to 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022, and Mumbai Indians in 2024. He was the first Afghan player bought at an IPL auction, by Hyderabad in 2017. Across his IPL career he has played 24 matches, scored 215 runs and taken 15 wickets, with best bowling of 4 for 11 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Last updated 2 November 2026, 17:00 GST
