Noor Ali Zadran is a former Afghan cricketer who played for the Afghanistan national cricket team. Ali is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He cites Ricky Ponting as his cricketing hero and inspiration to play. His nephews Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran and Ibrahim Zadran also are Afghan international cricketers. He was first Afghan player to face a ball in ODIs. On 7 March 2024, he was announced his retirement from international cricket.

The Afghanistan men's national cricket team represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afghanistan since the mid-19th century, but it was only in the early 21st century that the national team began to enjoy success. The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995, becoming an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and a member of the cricket confederation, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003. After nearly a decade of playing international cricket, on 22 June 2017 full ICC membership was granted to Afghanistan. Alongside Ireland, this took the number of Test cricket playing nations to twelve. Afghanistan is the first country to achieve Full Member status after holding Affiliate Membership of the ICC. In view of the persistent conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan, following this status, the team moved to a new home ground in Dehradun, in India. The current home ground of the Afghanistan Men's Cricket team is the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE.