The Hundred: What made Sunrisers bid for Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed

When Sunrisers Leeds successfully bid for Pakistan mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed for the 2026 edition of The Hundred on Thursday, it’s ownership surely knew the backlash they were letting themselves in for. The outrage on social media has started overnight with calls to boycott matches of Sunrisers Hyderabad, the IPL franchise, who are among the four IPL owners who have acquired majority stakes in as many The Hundred teams.

Abrar, along with Usman Tariq (Birmingham Phoenix), were the only two Pakistan players who found buyers in the auction – making them the ‘first’ in the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) league while none of their women players found takers. Given the earlier reports in British media about a shadow ban on Pakistan players in the Hundred by Indian-owned teams, there is a feeling that the tactical move of drafting in even one Pakistan player is in sync with ECB’s position that nationality would not come in the way of recruitment of players.

''These people are just bothered about money. Shame on SRH to pick the pakistani who mocks Indians. Fans should make them pay the price by shaming them in IPL,'' remarked cricket enthusiast Anil Kumar on his X handle @Anilnair1313. What further compounded matters was that the official X handle of Sunrisers Leeds has now been suspended.

An educated guess behind the decision is unlike India, the Pakistan diaspora is very strong in the UK with Bradford - barely 10 kms from Leeds - boasting around 300,000 population of Pakistan origin. A major priority for any new franchise owner surely will be to establish a connect with the local audience - apart from the cricketing reasons forwarded by Sunrisers head coach Daniel Vettori.

While the Sunrisers management, who were represented by Kavya Maran at the auction is yet to respond, Vettori contended that the move to go after Abrar had been a cricketing one after they missed out on Adil Rashid, the senior leg spinner of England.   “Once we missed out on Adil Rashid [to Southern Brave], who was a priority early on, then we obviously jumped into the overseas spinner. There were four or five guys that we were looking at, and Abrar was one of them. Very pleased to get him,” the former New Zealand captain said.

While Vettori refrained from commenting on the relations between India and Pakistan, he said that the coaches and management did not have any chat about not picking Pakistan players in the auction and in fact had Usman Tariq on their radar as well. “We just planned for everyone who was in the auction. There wasn't a discussion about not picking Pakistan players. It was just a matter of 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.'' The League will start on 21 July and conclude on 16 August.

All eight franchises (the IPL franchise-owned ones are Sunrisers, Manchester Super Giants, MI London & Sothern Brave) had earlier issued a statement in the wake of media reports, assuring the selection of players would purely be done on merit and cricketing skill. It’s no secret that there is a ban on Pakistan players in IPL since 2009 after the Mumbai terror attacks – with a gradual clampdown in place for former players like Wasim Akram or TV pundit Rameez Raja from serving in capacities of a mentor or support staff with various teams.

Mandhana headlines India presence

Meanwhile, India opener and vice captain Smriti Mandhana headlined the Indian presence in the women’s player draft while compatriot Richa Ghosh secured a deal worth £50,000 (approximately ₹61 lakh) and allrounder Deepti Sharma also earned a contract during the auction.

Richa was snapped up by Manchester Super Giants for £50,000 after the franchise made a solitary bid that was enough to secure the services of the Indian wicketkeeper-batter. Manchester Super Giants had earlier strengthened their squad by directly signing Mandhana along with Australia great Meg Lanning, while England spinner Sophie Ecclestone was retained by the side.

Deepti, named Player of the Tournament in India’s triumph in ODI World Cup last year, was picked up by Sunrisers Leeds at what was considered a bargain price of £27,500 (approximately Rs 34 lakh).  Incidentally, the BCCI does not allow any of their active men’s players – contracted or otherwise – to take part in overseas leagues.