Muhammad Waseem

Profile details

FULL NAME

Muhammad Waseem

PLAYING ROLE

Batter

TEAMS

Balkh Zwanan

More sixes than almost anyone in T20 internationals

Muhammad Waseem captains the United Arab Emirates in T20 internationals — and opens the batting for Balkh Zwanan in APL 2026-27. The 32-year-old owns 3,371 T20I runs at a strike rate above 150, and he has won the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award twice, the first UAE player ever to do so.

Waseem joins Balkh Zwanan as a Gold pick of the 2026 draft, signed at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026 for a reported $40,000. He is a 32-year-old right-hand opening batter who captains the United Arab Emirates in T20Is, and he gives Balkh something no other side in the league has: an opener who has hit more sixes in T20 internationals than almost anyone in the history of the format.

His numbers are built for this format. Three thousand three hundred and seventy-one T20I runs at a strike rate above 150 is not accumulation — it is powerplay destruction, innings after innings, against international attacks. Two ICC Men’s Player of the Month awards say the same thing from a different angle: he has been, twice, the best men’s cricketer on the planet for a month.

He is new to this league. Waseem was 24 when the first APL season was played in October 2018, and his T20I debut did not come until 5 October 2021 against Namibia, so the 2026 season is his APL debut. He arrives as a captain in his own right, playing under another captain — Ibrahim Zadran — in a side coached by Mickey Arthur, with Tillakaratne Dilshan as mentor.

Role, style and draft pick

Batter — right-hand opening batter, occasional right-arm medium.

Captain: Ibrahim Zadran. Head coach: Mickey Arthur. Mentor: Tillakaratne Dilshan.

APL 2026-27 numbers — none yet

The season starts on Sunday 27 December 2026, so no APL 2026-27 figures exist for any player yet — not for Muhammad Waseem, and not for anyone else in the league.

There are no APL figures for Waseem yet. The 2026-27 season has not started, and he did not play in the 2018 season. His first APL numbers will come after Balkh’s first match.

Where he fits at Balkh Zwanan

Waseem is the third opener in a squad that only needs two, and that is a deliberate luxury. Balkh Zwanan can pair his power with Zadran’s consistency or Atal’s left hand, and they can rest a batter without weakening the top order. In a double round-robin of eight league matches, depth at the top is what keeps a side scoring when one opener has a quiet week.

He also brings leadership without the title. A national captain in a dressing room of strangers is worth more than a name on a teamsheet — and with the final on Wednesday 20 January 2027, Balkh will need every steady head they have. APL Schedule will carry Balkh’s dates once the Afghanistan Cricket Board publishes the fixture list, and the season in full is on APL T20.