The inaugural auction of The Hundred’s private era on March 12, 2026, was expected to be a celebratory milestone for the ECB. Instead, it has ignited a fierce geopolitical controversy in India. SunRisers Leeds, a franchise owned by the Sun Group and linked to the IPL’s SunRisers Hyderabad, sparked a social media firestorm after winning a bidding war for Pakistan’s mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed.
The signing, worth £190,000 (approx. Rs 2.34 crore), is a landmark event. It marks the first time in many years that a franchise with Indian ownership has actively recruited a Pakistani international. While the move was praised in the UK as a victory for meritocracy, it has drawn severe backlash from Indian fans, many of whom have called for a boycott of the SunRisers brand.
The Hundred, an eight-team tournament, will be played in the UK from July 21 to August 16.
The primary driver of the outrage is a series of controversial social media posts allegedly made by Abrar Ahmed in mid-2025. Following a period of heightened cross-border tension, Abrar reportedly shared content that Indian fans claim mocked the Indian Armed Forces.
As news of the signing broke, hashtags like #ShameOnSRH and #BoycottSunrisers began trending on X. Critics argued that by handing a lucrative contract to a player who had publicly disparaged Indian security forces, the franchise owners had ignored national sentiment for tactical gain.
Some even called out the face of the SunRisers brand, Kaavya Maran, for aggressively bidding for Abrar Ahmed in Thursday’s auction in London.
“For years Indian teams avoided Pakistani players out of respect for national sentiment. But the moment money and foreign leagues enter the picture, that spine disappears. Indian owner, Indian brand, zero national backbone. Stop pretending to represent India if profit matters more than the country,” an X user wrote.
INDIAN-OWNED TEAM BUYS PAK SPINNER
The signing comes after months of speculation that the four Indian-owned teams in The Hundred – SunRisers Leeds, MI London, Manchester Super Giants, and Southern Brave – would enforce an unwritten rule to bypass Pakistani talent. This trend has been observed in South Africa’s SA20 and the UAE’s ILT20, where teams owned by IPL owners have historically never signed a Pakistani cricketer.
On the eve of the auction, the ECB reportedly issued a stern warning to all eight directors of cricket, reminding them that excluding players based on nationality would violate UK anti-discrimination laws. While major stars like Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, and Saim Ayub went unsold in the initial round of Thursdasy’s auction, SunRisers Leeds CEO Kavya Maran surprised observers by aggressively outbidding Trent Rockets to secure Abrar.
Notably, this is the first season in The Hundred’s six-year history to feature Indian owners, following the league’s privatisation last year that attracted several Indian investors.
MUSTAFIZUR FATE FOR ABRAR?
Speculation has already been mounting on social media regarding whether SunRisers Leeds will be forced to rescind Abrar Ahmed’s contract following the backlash. A section of users on X pointed to the recent precedent involving Mustafizur Rahman and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In January 2026, despite buying the Bangladeshi pacer for Rs 9.20 crore at the IPL 2026 auction, KKR was directed by the BCCI to terminate his contract.
The move followed intense pressure from what critics described as fringe political groups in India after reports of targeted violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. While SunRisers Leeds operates under the jurisdiction of the ECB, many fear that the same commercial and political pressures that sidelined Mustafizur could now target Abrar.
From a purely cricketing perspective, the move, spearheaded by head coach Daniel Vettori, is a masterstroke. Abrar has become one of the most feared white-ball spinners in the world, taking 52 wickets in his last 38 T20Is at an extraordinary economy rate of 6.67.
SunRisers Leeds officials have maintained that the selection was based entirely on cricketing merit and squad requirements. By signing Abrar, they have effectively dismantled the narrative of a shadow-ban, though they now face the difficult task of managing a PR crisis in their primary commercial market back in India.
