Allah Ghazanfar

FULL NAME

Allah Ghazanfar

TEAMS

MI Emirates

Ghazanfar is not a containing spinner. He flights the ball, looks for drift and dip, and his stock delivery turns away from the right-hander sharply enough to beat the bat or find the edge. That is why MI Emirates want him in the side: on Dubai and Abu Dhabi surfaces that can grip, a spinner who attacks is worth more than one who merely survives.

• Role: Bowler
• Team: MI Emirates
• Batting: Right-handed
• Bowling: Right-arm off break
• Born: 20 March 2006, Afghanistan

His role is the middle-overs squeeze with teeth. Pooran can throw him the ball after the powerplay and ask for a breakthrough rather than four quiet overs, and if the top order has already been broken, Ghazanfar can bowl at batters who are new to the crease and unsure of the pace of the pitch.

Ghazanfar's name travelled fast after his six-wicket haul against Bangladesh in an ODI in Sharjah in November 2024 — a performance that showed he could do it against a full international side, not just at age-group level. He had already been talked about in Afghanistan cricket as the next spin prospect after Rashid Khan, and that night made the talk real.

Since then he has been picked up by franchise sides around the world, including in the IPL, and he arrives in the ILT20 with a reputation to protect rather than to build. The league's batters will have watched the Bangladesh game; the challenge for Ghazanfar is to stay ahead of them with variations they have not seen yet.

Ghazanfar's job is to hunt wickets in the middle overs, flighting the ball and daring batters to take him on.

The six wickets he took against Bangladesh in an ODI in Sharjah in November 2024 proved he could do it against a full international side, not just at age-group level. Bowling beside Rashid Khan, he gives Pooran a second spinner batters cannot simply survive against, because they have to score off one of them and both attack.

Three league games to start the season for MI Emirates, then the run to the playoffs. The full list of every ILT20 fixture is on the ILT20 Schedule page.

• Match 1 — Desert Vipers vs MI Emirates: Saturday 21 November 2026, evening session, Dubai International Stadium, Dubai.
• Match 5 — Gulf Giants vs MI Emirates: Tuesday 24 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 7 — Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs MI Emirates: Thursday 26 November 2026, evening session, Abu Dhabi.

Qualifier 1 on Tuesday 16 December, the Eliminator on Wednesday 17 December, Qualifier 2 on Friday 18 December in Sharjah, and the final on Sunday 20 December in Dubai.

Follow every ILT20 result as it happens on SialTV, with the points table updated after every match day.