New Delhi: Indian-owned team Sunrisers Leeds has included Pakistan’s mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed in its team in England’s ‘The Hundred’ League. The decision was taken in the auction held on March 12, where the team spent around Rs 2.34 crore (approximately £1,90,000) on Abrar. Abrar plays for the Pakistan team and is very famous because of the mysterious spin in his bowling.
This is the first time that an Indian-owned franchise has selected a Pakistani player in ‘The Hundred’. Sunrisers Leeds, the IPL’s sister franchise to Sunrisers Hyderabad, was bought by Sun TV Group last year.
This group, along with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Yorkshire, had acquired full ownership rights of this team. Now BCCI’s first reaction on this entire matter has come out.
There was an uproar on social media
As soon as the news of signing Abrar Ahmed came, huge protests started on social media. Many Indian fans called it an anti-national move. Fans expressed their displeasure against Sunrisers Hyderabad and talked about boycotting the team in IPL 2026. Some also raised questions on team owner Kavya Maran.
The protest became so intense that the official X account of Sunrisers Leeds was suspended on 13 March. On opening the account the message is visible that "Account has been suspended" And the reason for violation of X’s rules is given. However, it is not yet clear which rule was violated.
BCCI’s first reaction
The first statement on behalf of BCCI on this entire controversy has been given by Vice President Rajeev Shukla. He told ANI that this matter is not related to IPL, hence the board cannot do anything.
#WATCH | Delhi | On Sunrisers Leeds signing Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed for the The Hundred 2026 season, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla says, "…Our domain is limited to IPL, we are not concerned by what is happening in other leagues…It is clearly upto the franchise that… pic.twitter.com/ppfmbxN1w3
— ANI (@ANI) March 13, 2026
Rajiv Shukla said, “This is not in our domain (IPL). They have done it for some foreign league. They have to take the decision themselves, we cannot do anything.” It is clear from his statement that BCCI will not interfere in this issue, because it is related to the English league and not the IPL.
Comments are closed.