The Sunrisers franchise is having severe backlash on social media after acquiring Pakistan mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed in the men’s player auction on Thursday. Abrar became the first Pakistani player to be signed by an Indian-owned team in The Hundred, after the Sunrisers picked him up for USD 255,000. However, the move didn’t go down well in India, as several fans took to social media to criticise Sunrisers and team owner Kavya Maran for signing a Pakistan player and going against national sentiment.
At the Hundred men’s player auction, owner Kavya Maran was seen sitting at the table alongside head coach Daniel Vettori. Ahead of the auction, there was heavy scrutiny over whether the four Indian-owned teams in the Hundred would bid for Pakistan players amid reports of a potential shadow ban.
Just hours after the franchise got Abrar on board, Sunrisers Leeds’ official X (formerly Twitter) was suspended. There’s no specific reason given by the platform for this, but when one tries to open the account, a pop-up shows the message “Account suspended.” X suspends accounts which violate the X rules.”
Sun TV, the Indian media conglomerate, had completed a full takeover of the Leeds franchise in the Hundred, formerly known as Northern Superchargers, last year, buying a 49 per cent stake from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the remaining 51 per cent from Yorkshire.
Earlier, all eight Hundred franchises had committed to selecting players solely on “performance, availability, and the needs of each team” before the auction.
Sunrisers previous record
Sunrisers’ sister franchises Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20) have never previously signed an active Pakistan player. In the Hundred auction, the franchise won the bidding war against the Trent Rockets to acquire Abrar.
Sunrisers’ coach Daniel Vettori revealed that he had sought advice from Australia’s players who had Abrar at the start of the year, and it was then that the Australia assistant coach decided to pursue Abrar. He also stated that the franchise did not have any internal meetings to decide whether they will pick Pakistani players in the auction or not.
Abrar was the second Pakistan player to be sold in the men’s auction after spinner Usman Tariq, who was bought for USD 187,000 by Birmingham Phoenix. Several Pakistan players have previously played for T20 teams owned by IPL franchises worldwide, but no international players have featured in the IPL since 2008 due to geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
