Afghanistan’s Aftab Alam to play for Dambulla Vikings in LPL 2020

Aftab Alam, the Afghanistan fast bowler, is all set to ply his trade for the Dambulla Vikings in the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) starting Thursday, November 26. The Vikings will be starting their campaign on Saturday, November 28 when they face the Kandy Tuskers at the Mahinda Rajapaksha International Stadium in Hambantota.

Ahead of their first match, the 27-year-old Aftab sounded pretty excited and is raring to bowl in the tournament. In the Vikings, the speedster will get to rub shoulders with the likes of David Miller, Upul Tharanga, Carlos Brathwaite and Samit Patel, who all are veterans in the T20 format.

“I’m currently in Sri Lanka, playing for the Dambulla Vikings. Please keep me in your prayers,” Alam told CricTracker. After making his T20 debut in 2012, Alam has played 35 matches, picking up 42 wickets at a decent economy rate of 8.07.

Ahead of the LPL, Alam, along with the other members, is busy serving the quarantine period. Hence, they won’t be getting to practice for more than two to three days to warm themselves up. “For the time being, there’s nothing much as we are quarantining. After four days, we would start practising,” the Nangarhar-born pacer added.

Aftab Alam’s recent numbers

Aftab last played T20 cricket in the previous edition of the Shpageeza Cricket League. There he played for the Speen Ghar Tigers, led by Karim Sadiq. In five matches, Aftab picked up three wickets. Recently, he also played three matches in the Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament at Kandahar. In three matches, Aftab finished with two wickets.

Alam hasn’t played any form of international cricket since the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales where the Afghans couldn’t win a single match. He last donned the national jersey against India at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on June 22, 2019.

The pacer made his international debut way back in February 2010, but he has been in and out of the national team, despite showing a lot of promise. At the international level, Alam has 41 and 11 wickets in 27 and 12 T20Is respectively. With some decent performances in the LPL, he will be looking to make a comeback into the national side.