Published: Mar 13, 2026, 11:49 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 13, 2026, 11:49 AM (IST)
The Hundred 2026 player auction created massive drama when Sunrisers Leeds, owned by Sun TV and Kavya Maran (the same group behind IPL’s Sunrisers Hyderabad), signed Pakistani leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed for 190,000 pounds (around Rs 2.34 crore).
Abrar became the first Pakistani cricketer to join an Indian-owned franchise in The Hundred. But the decision sparked huge anger among many Indian fans on social media, who were upset about an IPL-linked team buying a player from Pakistan amid ongoing tensions between the two countries.
Fans heavily trolled both the franchise and Kavya Maran. “Boycott Sunrisers Hyderabad” even started trending on X (formerly Twitter) as people called for protests in the IPL.
Just hours after the announcement on Thursday, Sunrisers Leeds’ official X account was suspended. Anyone trying to visit it now sees this message:
“Account suspended. X suspends accounts that violate the X rules.”
X has not given any official reason for the suspension, but it’s widely believed the move came due to a flood of reports and backlash from angry users over the Abrar signing.
Abrar was the second Pakistani player sold in the men’s auction. The first was mystery spinner Usman Tariq, bought by Birmingham Phoenix for 140,000 pounds (around Rs 1.72 crore). Phoenix has no connection to any IPL team.
Big names from Pakistan went unsold with zero bids:
Star left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi had already pulled out of the auction earlier.
In the women’s Hundred auction on Wednesday, the only two Pakistani players, Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal also remained unsold.
Last year, Kavya Maran and Sun TV bought 100% ownership of Northern Superchargers in The Hundred for 100 million pounds (around Rs 1,100 crore). They rebranded it as Sunrisers Leeds.
Sun Group also owns Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20, but that team has never signed a Pakistani player.
The Hundred 2026 season starts on July 21 and the final is on August 16.
Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was sold to Birmingham Phoenix for 100,000 pounds (around Rs 1.23 crore). Mustafizur was earlier released by KKR on BCCI orders, which later played a part in Bangladesh’s exit from the recent T20 World Cup.
The biggest bid of the day went to England all-rounder James Coles, who was snapped up by London Spirit for 390,000 pounds (around Rs 4.8 crore).
