The 2026 ‘The Hundred’ auction dealt a major blow to Pakistani cricket, with several star players—including fast bowler Haris Rauf and women’s national team captain Fatima Sana—remaining unsold. In the men’s auction (12 March, London), Rauf (marquee player, reserve price of £100,000) did not receive any bids despite his tremendous ability in T20. Shadab Khan also remained unsold, while Shaheen Shah Afridi pulled out late (along with Quinton de Kock, Sunil Narine and other players—officially due to schedule clashes with tournaments like the CPL).
The women’s auction (11 March) was a complete disappointment for Pakistan: Fatima Sana, Sadia Iqbal (both shortlisted at a base price of £15,000), Muniba Ali and Diana Baig did not receive any offers. Only two Pakistani players received contracts—Abrar Ahmed (to Sunrisers Leeds for £190,000) and Usman Tariq (to Birmingham Phoenix for £140,000)—highlighting how under-represented they were compared to the more than 13 men and several women initially available.
According to speculations going on in the industry, the franchises are being very cautious, especially those franchises which are owned by Indians (four out of eight teams). These franchises want to avoid the backlash that followed Sunrisers Leeds’ signing of Abrar Ahmed; There was a lot of uproar due to Abrar’s old social media posts. Reports prior to the auction suggested that Pakistani players would be avoided due to geopolitical sensitivities, however the ECB and the teams insisted that players would be selected solely on the basis of their performance, availability and team requirements.
Some Indian media outlets linked the reason for these players going unsold to certain gestures made by Rauf and other players during the Asia Cup (e.g., “Rafale” wing signs, “6-0” taunts which were seen as mocking India). These outlets believe this could be a ‘PR risk’ in a market sensitive to such behaviour. This has not been acknowledged as the sole reason in any official statement—a number of other factors are likely to have played a role, such as cost, current form, the limit on foreign players, and schedule conflicts with other tournaments. This result clearly shows that off-field perceptions are increasingly influencing the decisions of franchises in global T20 leagues.
Comments are closed.