CULTURE — March 24, 2026

Afghanistan Cricket Board Announces Sixth Mirwais Nika Tournament in Kandahar and Helmand

The Afghanistan Cricket Board announced the sixth edition of the Mirwais Nika three-day cricket tournament, featuring five regional teams and running from April 2 to 20 in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. The event includes top domestic players and Afghanistan U19 team members, aimed at bolstering local cricket.

The Ehtebar Desk — originates with Pajhwok — corroborated by Amu TV2 min read

Afghanistan Cricket Board Announces Sixth Mirwais Nika Tournament in Kandahar and Helmand
Image courtesy Pajhwok

The Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced the sixth edition of the three-day regional Mirwais Nika cricket tournament, set to run from April 2 to April 20 in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Five teams will compete in a round-robin format: Mes Aynak, Band-e-Amir, Amu, Bost and Speen Ghar. A total of 10 matches will be played across Kandahar Cricket Ground and Helmand Cricket Ground, with each match starting at 10 a.m. local time.

The tournament schedule, as released by the Cricket Board, includes:

April 2-4: Bost vs Amu (Kandahar) and Band-e-Amir vs Mes Aynak (Helmand)
April 6-8: Bost vs Speen Ghar (Kandahar) and Amu vs Mes Aynak (Helmand)
April 10-12: Bost vs Mes Aynak (Kandahar) and Speen Ghar vs Band-e-Amir (Helmand)
April 14-16: Speen Ghar vs Amu (Kandahar) and Band-e-Amir vs Bost (Helmand)
April 18-20: Mes Aynak vs Speen Ghar (Kandahar) and Band-e-Amir vs Amu (Helmand)

Participants will include top players from recent provincial first-class competitions, contracted multi-day cricketers and members of Afghanistan's Under-19 team, which reached the semi-finals of the Under-19 World Cup.

Cricket Board officials stated the event aims to strengthen domestic cricket and identify emerging talents. It marks the third domestic cricket competition of the year, to be followed by other events in multi-day, one-day and Twenty20 formats.

Read the original reporting at Pajhwok

Reliability assessment

2 independent sources (Amu TV, Pajhwok) corroborate core event of ACB announcement for sixth Mirwais Nika/Neka tournament in Kandahar/Helmand with identical teams, dates, player types; minor spelling/omitted details do not affect corroboration

The source language reads straight.

Across the newsrooms

Where reports agree

  • Afghanistan Cricket Board/ACB announcement of sixth Mirwais Nika/Neka three-day tournament
  • Starts April 2 ends April 20 in Kandahar and Helmand
  • Five teams: Mes/Mis Aynak, Band-e-Amir, Amu/Amo, Bost, Speen Ghar
  • Top provincial/contracted players plus U19 members participate
  • Followed by other domestic formats (T20, one-day, four-day)

Where reports differ

  • Slight spelling variations (Nika/Neka, Mes Aynak/Mis-i-Ainak, Amu/Amo)
  • Detailed schedule and specific venues only in Amu TV
  • Explicit purpose and round-robin/10 matches detail only in Amu TV

Filed by 2 outlets

Filed under

CultureAfghanistan Cricket Board, Mirwais Nika, Kandahar, Helmand, cricket tournament

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