The Shpageeza T20 cricket league ended on Wednesday with the championship going to the Kabul Eagles, who beat Mis Aynak by nine runs at the Kabul International Cricket Stadium.
The Kabul Eagles were led by Ramanullah Gurbaz and the Mis Aynak team was led by Shapoor Zadran.
Kabul Eagles have won the title for the second time in a row.
Mis Ainak Knights won the toss earlier in the day and opted to field first in the final match of the tournament.
The Eagles lost quick wickets at the beginning as captain Rahmanullah Gurbaz, his opening partner Noor Ali Zadran and young player Riaz Hassan were back to the pavilion within the first 2 overs, Afghanistan’s Cricket Board (ACB) said on its website.
Dawlat Zadran took the wickets of Noor Ali and Gurbaz in the very first over of the innings while Hassan was caught by Ibrahim Khan, said ACB.
"The wickets continued to fall at regular intervals for the Eagles courtesy of some brilliant bowling by the Knights," the ACB site said, adding that Younas Ahmadzai and Samiullah Shinwari had 36 and 32 runs respectively for the Eagles while Nangialay Kharoti and Azmatullah Omarzai provided a late flourish as the Eagles were all out for 139 in the final over.
In response, the Mis Ainak Knights were all out for 130 in 19.4 overs as the Kabul Eagles bowling line up shined at the big stage, said ACB.
“Nijat Masood and Nangialai Kharoti took 2 wickets each while the rest took one apiece while Ghamai Zadran and Shahidullah were the top performers with the bat for the Knights scoring 40 and 26 runs respectively,” it said.
The Eagles’ all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai was declared the joint winner of the Player of the Tournament award alongside Bost Defenders’ Karim Janat.
Further awards in the tournament included Best Emerging Player trophy to Nangialai Kharoty, Best Batsman for Usman Ghani and Best bowler for Waqar Salamkheil.
The seventh edition of Shpageeza was held from September 6 to 16 at Kabul Cricket Stadium.
Last year, Mis Ainak won the sixth edition of Shpageeza but this year the defending champion was not able to reclaim the title.
