The Hundred is England's premier 'T20' competition. Over the past year, the teams have received further investments. Part of this involved a controlling stake in the teams.
Not surprisingly, most of the investors came from India and the Indian Premier League (IPL) owners. As a result, some teams were rebranded and a player auction was introduced instead of the use of a player draft.
Due to the majority of investments originating from India, the usual rule of no Pakistani players are allowed to participate in the tournament.
That didn't occur as a few Pakistani's were picked. One of them was from an IPL owner. As such, they have been scrutinized for the action.
Sunrisers Leeds successfully bought mystery spinner, Abrar Ahmed, for £190 000 (US$255 000) on the morning of the inaugural men's Hundred auction in London; making him the first Pakistan player signed by an Indian-owned team in the tournament.
The Indian media conglomerate, Sun TV, completed a full takeover of the franchise formerly known as Northern Superchargers last year; buying a 49% stake from the ECB and the remaining 51% from Yorkshire for around £100 million. Stakes in three other Hundred teams were also sold to investors who own IPL franchises.
There has been significant scrutiny on whether those four franchises would bid on Pakistan players in Thursday's auction after reports of a potential 'shadow-ban', even after the eight franchises had committed to selecting based solely on "performance, availability, and the needs of each team" before the auction.
"Once we missed out on Adil Rashid [to Southern Brave], who was a priority early on, then we obviously jumped into the overseas spinner," Sunrisers head coach, Daniel Vettori, said. "There were four or five guys that we were looking at and Abrar was one of them. Very pleased to get him."
Sunrisers - whose sister franchises, Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20) have never previously signed an active Pakistan player - won a bidding war with Trent Rockets to secure Abrar's services shortly before the lunch break.
Vettori stated there had been no discussions internally that the franchise wouldn't select Pakistanis, and revealed he had sought the advice of Australia's players (Vettori is also Australia assistant coach), who had faced Abrar at the start of the year.
"We just planned for everyone that was in the auction. There wasn't a discussion [about not picking Pakistan players] - it was just who was the best option. After we missed out on Adil Rashid, the priority was going to get a spin bowler and we didn't think that quality was in the local market, so we had to jump overseas. Rishad Hussain, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed - they were all guys that were on our radar."
Abrar was the second Pakistan player sold on Thursday morning after Usman Tariq, who was bought for £140 000 (US$187 000) by Birmingham Phoenix. Both Rockets and Phoenix are co-owned by their host counties (Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire respectively) and American investor groups.
Several Pakistan players have previously played for global T20 teams owned or part-owned by IPL franchises, but no active Pakistan internationals have featured in the IPL since 2008 due to the long-running geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan.
"It's a bit of mystery. I don't think there are a lot of English players who have seen him and he recently played in that Australian series. The feedback from the Australian guys was that he was going to be tricky to face, a lot of variations and an ability to strike in the powerplay, and still through the middle stages, which I think is a key requirement at Headingley. Spinners have been the only ones who have really succeeded there. To have him there is going to be a big difference for us."
The development is notable as franchises linked to the Indian Premier League have generally refrained from signing Pakistan players in overseas leagues as well; reflecting the prolonged absence of Pakistan cricketers from the IPL since 2009 amid strained diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan. Abrar’s signing, therefore, marks a rare instance of an Indian-owned team contracting a Pakistan player in a major franchise tournament.
Sunrisers Leeds is the rebranded franchise after Sun Group completed a full takeover of Northern Superchargers, purchasing 49% stake from the ECB and the remaining 51% from Yorkshire County Club for around £100 million last year. The group also owns Sunrisers Hyderabad and Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Notably, Sunrisers Eastern Cape currently doesn't have any Pakistan players in its squad.
The bidding process at the auction was overseen by Kavya Maran, who represented the franchise during the proceedings. The 2026 season of The Hundred is scheduled to run from 21 July to 16 August.
As news of the signing broke, hashtags such as #ShameOnSRH and #BoycottSunrisers began trending on social media platform X. Several users criticised the franchise owners, alleging that awarding a lucrative contract to Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed overlooked prevailing national sentiment. Some critics also claimed that the player had earlier made remarks perceived as disparaging towards Indian security forces, though the franchise hasn't issued any official response to the online backlash so far.
Abrar was the second Pakistan cricketer to be sold in the auction. Fellow mystery spinner, Usman Tariq, was picked by Birmingham Phoenix for GBP 140 000 (around ₹1.72 crore). However, Phoenix has no IPL ownership link.
Several other Pakistan players failed to attract bids. Fast bowler, Haris Rauf, all-rounder Saim Ayub and spinner Shadab Khan went unsold; while star pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi, had earlier withdrawn from the auction.
In the women’s competition held a day earlier, Pakistan players Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal also remained unsold.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was acquired by Birmingham Phoenix for £100 000 (around ₹1.23 crore). Rahman had earlier been released by Kolkata Knight Riders following directions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The move has led to suspension of Leed's offical X account for 'violating the rules.' Although, it's not clear at this point that which rules were broken by the Hundred team. Abrar's signing came amid doubts about Pakistan players being bought by IPL-linked teams at the Hundred auction. He's the only Pakistan player to be bought by any of the four IPL-linked teams in the Hundred. The Leeds picked him for £190,000 (INR 2.34 crore approx) at the auction.
The @SunrisersLeeds account on X was suspended on Thursday. It was up and running again on Friday with a new follower base but comments again focused heavily on Abrar’s signing.
The same was true of the club’s Instagram feed, while the issue spilled over onto the accounts of Sunrisers Hyderabad; also owned by the Sun Group media conglomerate.
The Sunrisers franchise faced heavy backlash on social media after signing Pakistan mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed in Thursday’s inaugural men’s The Hundred 2026 players’ auction. Abrar became the first Pakistani player to be signed by an Indian-owned team in The Hundred, with Sunrisers paying USD 255,000.
The move didn't sit well with many fans in India, who criticised Sunrisers and team owner Kavya Maran for signing a Pakistan player, saying it went against national sentiment.
BCCI vice-president, Rajeev Shukla, said the body can't do anything about the Sunrisers franchise bringing in Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed for the upcoming edition of the Hundred. The franchise owned by Sun TV is being slammed left, right and centre on social media for acquiring Abrar in the players' auction, despite national sentiment and the mood in the country. Kavya Maran, the owner of the franchise, is also facing severe backlash and even the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of Sunrisers Leeds was suspended.
A post announcing Abrar’s signing was met with thousands of replies angrily questioning the patriotism of the Indian owners.
Some highlighted that Abrar had mocked India on social media after the conflict between the two countries in May 2025, and had called for fans to boycott IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The reaction to this whole thing is a bit over the top. The Hundred isn't an Indian product nor is it being played in India. I feel like Indian fans have no claim to complain. It's a different competition and surroundings.
I would like to know what rules were broken to get their account suspended. To me, no rules were broken and it was done out of spite.
Pakistani players should be free to play wherever they want to - apart from India.