An auction held in England’s franchise league The Hundred has created a big controversy. There is a strong reaction on social media after Sunrisers Group team bought Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed. Now former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi has also jumped into this whole issue and has given an open message to team owner Kavya Maran.

What is the whole controversy?

According to reports, Sunrisers Leeds bought Abrar Ahmed for around 1.9 lakh pounds (about Rs 2.34 crore) in The Hundred auction. After this, a section of Indian cricket fans started raising questions on this decision. Actually, Pakistani players have not been able to participate in IPL since 2008. In such a situation, Indian franchises have generally been seen maintaining distance from Pakistani players even in foreign leagues.

Lalit Modi’s taunt

Amidst this controversy, former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi has written a sharp message on social media regarding Sunrisers owner Kavya Maran. Without taking any name, he said that when the fans are already angry, then spending such a huge amount on a Pakistani player does not seem like the right decision. He also wrote, “I know how to handle brand and image, you can talk to me if needed.” His statement has gone viral on social media and different reactions are emerging on it.

Ruckus on social media

After this decision of Sunrisers, a lot of debate has erupted on social media. Some people called it right from the sporting point of view, while many users called it a wrong step. Even the news of the team’s social media account being suspended for some time came to light.

The ongoing tension between India and Pakistan became the reason

A major reason for this entire controversy is the long-running political and cricketing tension between India and Pakistan. The entry of Pakistani players in IPL has been banned since 2008 and this issue always remains sensitive. At present, no major official statement has come from Sunrisers on this controversy, but it is clear that this decision has once again brought old issues of cricket and politics into discussion.

In the recent player auction of England’s popular T20 league The Hundred, a decision was taken which has sparked debate among cricket fans. Sunrisers Leeds, the franchise of Indian business conglomerate Sun Group, has included Pakistan spin bowler Abrar Ahmed in its team. After this decision, a lot of discussion and controversy is being seen on social media.

Kavya Maran’s team took a big bet

In the auction held in the presence of Sun Group owner Kavya Maran, Sunrisers Leads bid heavily for Abrar Ahmed. According to the report, the team has bought him for 1 lakh 90 thousand pounds i.e. about Rs 2.34 crore. During the auction, there was a tough competition between Sunrisers Leeds and Trent Rockets to get Abrar. Finally, Sunrisers Leeds have included this Pakistani spinner in their team by bidding more.

Old ‘unwritten rule’ broken

This deal of Abrar Ahmed is also in the news because he has become the first Pakistani player to join an Indian-owned franchise. In fact, due to the long-standing political tension between India and Pakistan, IPL franchises have not included Pakistani players since 2009. For this reason, it was believed that Pakistani players would not get a chance in Indian-owned teams.

But this assumption seemed to be broken in this auction. After the Sun Group team bought Abrar Ahmed, many fans on social media raised questions on this decision. Some people called it right from cricket point of view, while some also criticized it.

Sun Group teams in many leagues

Sun Group owns teams not only in this English league but also in many other T20 leagues. This group also owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in IPL. Apart from this, Sunrisers Eastern Cape is also a team of this group in South Africa’s SA20 League. Last year, Sun Group also took control of the Northern Superchargers franchise in The Hundred, after which the name of the team has been changed to Sunrisers Leeds.

Entry of another Pakistani player

Before Abrar Ahmed, Pakistan’s Usman Tariq was also bought in this auction. Birmingham Phoenix has added him for 1 lakh 40 thousand pounds i.e. approximately Rs 1.72 crore.

The new season of The Hundred will start from 21st July and will be played till 16th August. Now it will be interesting to see how Abrar Ahmed performs in this league and whether this decision changes the attitude of other franchises in future or not.

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SunRisers Leeds, Abrar Ahmed: Kavya Maran’s team Sunrisers Leeds bought the Pakistani player who made fun of the Indian Army in ‘Operation Sindoor’ in The Hundred 2026 auction. This player is none other than Pakistan’s 27-year-old spinner Abrar Ahmed.

Although earlier it was being said that the franchises of IPL teams will not buy Pakistani players in The Hundred. However this did not happen. All the teams present in the league are bidding on all the players.

Abrar got huge amount

Let us tell you that Abrar has been bought by Sunrisers for a price of 190,000 pounds (about Rs 2.34 crore). Trent Rockets had started bidding on the Pak spinner. The team made a bid of 100,000 pounds, but Sunrisers extended their hand and included the Pakistani spinner in their camp.

Abrar at Headingley, soon

[Play With Fire | SunRisers Leeds] pic.twitter.com/Yqm204j091

— SunRisers Leeds (@sunrisersleeds) March 12, 2026

Abrar had made fun of the Indian Army

After Operation Sindoor, Abrar Ahmed made fun of the Indian Army in May. He had used the incident of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman being captured by Pakistani Air Force, pictures of which are once again going viral on social media.

Angry Indian fans

Indian fans looked very angry as soon as Abrar joined Sunrisers. People are seen expressing their anger through social media.

Shame is a small word!!

Imagine the outrage, if KKR or any of their franchise had bought this mf named Abrar Ahmed who is the biggest hater of India & consistently post anti-India stuff on his Instagram!! pic.twitter.com/NUmhTBkKez

— Rajiv (@Rajiv1841) March 12, 2026

There was a dispute over Mustafizur

It is noteworthy that in the IPL 2026 auction, Kolkata Knight Riders had included Bangladeshi fast bowler Musfizur Rahman as their part. During that time, there were intense demonstrations in Bangladesh, in which there were reports of atrocities on the minority Hindu population there. After this, the demand intensified in India that Bangladeshi players should not play IPL. It happened exactly the same. On the instructions of BCCI, KKR released Mustafizur. Mustafizur was bought for a price of Rs 9.20 crore.

Also read: Will the venue of the match change before IPL 2026? Know why there is a problem regarding RCB vs SRH match

A big controversy has arisen after the auction for the new season of The Hundred held in England. World number-1 T20 bowler Sadia Iqbal did not find any buyer in the auction of women players held on Wednesday. Along with him, Pakistan all-rounder Fatima Sana also remained unsold.

The base price of both players was 15,000 pounds, but no franchise bid on them. After this, the discussion intensified on social media and in the cricket world whether an untold distance is being created regarding Pakistani players in the league.

Questions raised after the arrival of IPL owners

This time, the stake of companies which also have IPL franchises has increased in many teams of The Hundred. For this reason, some people raised the question whether Pakistani players have not got a chance due to the influence of the owners associated with IPL.

However, the league organizer England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had clearly said before the auction that the players will not be selected on the basis of their nationality. Despite this, after the results came out, debate on this issue has started.

Pakistani women players had not played before either

The interesting thing is that even in the previous seasons of The Hundred League, no Pakistani female player could play in this league. This means that even before the arrival of IPL owners, women cricketers of Pakistan did not get a chance in this league. Still, many people found it surprising that a top bowler like Sadia Iqbal remained unsold, because at present she is considered the number-1 bowler in the T20 rankings.

Money rained on Indian players

While Pakistani players were disappointed, Indian women cricketers got excellent prices in the auction.

Richa Ghosh – Bought for 50,000 pounds.

Deepti Sharma – 27,000 pounds

Whereas veteran players like Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues had already been pre-signed or retained by the franchise. This season, there has been an increase in the salary of women players as compared to last year.

Now keep an eye on the men’s auction

After the women’s auction, now everyone’s eyes are on the auction of male players. Many big players of Pakistan are included in this draft, including names of players like Shahin Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Aamir Aamir.

Now it will be interesting to see whether teams place bets on these Pakistani players in the men’s auction or they too get disappointed like the women players.

See also

Shahid Afridi crossed the limits of shamelessness regarding India vs Pakistan World Cup match, told the biggest lie

‘You can’t refuse me…’ Who forced Gautam Gambhir to become the head coach of Team India?

The Hundred auction: The long list of players for the upcoming season of England’s famous T20 league The Hundred has been released. This time 247 players have been included in the auction, out of which the entry of 14 cricketers from Pakistan has created a special discussion. Now the biggest question is whether Indian-owned franchises will bid on these players or not.

Haris Rauf is the biggest name in the marquee category.

Pakistan’s fast bowler Haris Rauf has been placed in the ‘Marquee Players International’ category, where his base price has been fixed at 1 lakh pounds. This high-profile group also includes big players like Aiden Markram, David Miller, Daryl Mitchell and Sunil Narine.

Six cricketers from Pakistan have been successful in making it to the list of top-50 players. These include names like Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Tariq, Sam Ayub and Abrar Ahmed. The interesting thing is that the number of players from Pakistan in this list is more than players from any other foreign country.

Debate increased due to news of ‘shadow ban’

Recent reports had claimed that some teams with owners associated with the Indian Premier League may avoid signing Pakistani players. Among these, the names of franchises like MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Super Giants and Southern Brave have come to the fore.

However, the England and Wales Cricket Board has made it clear that no player will be excluded from the auction on the basis of his nationality. The board said that the selection will be based only on performance, availability and the needs of the team.

Did not get any contract last year

This was the first time in the 2025 draft that no Pakistani player got a contract. Earlier, many Pakistani players were part of this league in the 2024 and 2023 seasons. However, this time the situation is a little different because the timing of the tournament may clash with Pakistan’s Test series, which may affect the availability of some players.

Now everyone’s eyes are on the auction. It will be interesting to see whether Pakistani players will get a chance in The Hundred this time or not.

Photo Tag – 14 Pakistan Players in The Hundred 2026 Auction