Darwish Rasooli

FULL NAME

Darwish Rasooli

PLAYING ROLE

Batter

TEAMS

Dubai Capitals

Darwish Rasooli has played for Afghanistan in T20 internationals as a middle-order batter, and his game is built on power rather than patience: he looks to hit the ball hard and straight, and his best innings come when the field is up and the bowlers are under pressure. He has been around the Afghanistan set-up for several seasons, moving between the national side and the country's domestic competitions, and he has played franchise cricket in the region before.

• Role: Batter
• Team: Dubai Capitals
• Batting: Right-handed
• Bowling: Right-arm off-break

His signing fits the Capitals' pattern for the lower end of their squad: proven international hitters bought cheaply, so that the eleven never runs out of batting. Rasooli is not bought to open or to anchor — he is bought to be the batter who walks in with eight overs left and changes the arithmetic of a chase.

The Capitals' top order is full: Faf du Plessis, Phil Salt and Marcus Stoinis take the first three places in most plans, with Dasun Shanaka and Rovman Powell behind them. Rasooli's path into the eleven is as cover for one of those five, or as a tactical pick on a pitch where an extra power hitter is worth more than a sixth bowler. His part-time off-breaks help there — a captain can use him as a sixth bowling option and keep the batting deep.

At $10,000 he is the lowest-priced overseas batter in the Capitals squad, so picking him costs the side almost nothing when it needs a hitter. The Capitals' title defence will not be built on him, but title defences are often saved by the player nobody planned around.

What makes the Capitals dangerous is that their batting does not stop at the top three. Shanaka and Powell are finishers in their own right, and Rasooli extends that threat one place further down: even at seven or eight, the side has a batter who has hit international bowlers out of the ground. Opposition captains cannot plan a quiet over against the lower middle order and expect to get away with it.

His first chance to impress will come at home, with the champions opening against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on Sunday 22 November, in the evening in Dubai.

• Match 3 — vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders: Sunday 22 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 6 — vs Desert Vipers: Wednesday 25 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 8 — vs Sharjah Warriorz: Friday 27 November 2026, evening session, Sharjah.

Qualifier 1 is 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.

See the ILT20 Schedule page for every fixture in the season. Results land on SialTV as they happen, with the points table updated after every match day.