SunRisers Leeds head coach Daniel Vettori explained the decision to pick Abrar Ahmed at The Hundred auction, saying that it became a necessity for the team to sign Pakistan spinner after they couldn’t get hold of Adil Rashid.

Kavya Maran, the CEO of the franchise, was present at the auction table along with Vettori at Piccadilly Lights in London as SunRisers Leeds outbid Trent Rockets to acquire Abrar for £190,000 (approximately Rs 2.34 crore).

The deal marked the first time in a long while that a team owned by an Indian Premier League franchise has recruited a Pakistani cricketer.

Following this, the SunRisers franchise received immense backlash on social media, with Indian fans calling for a boycott of SRH in the IPL. The official X account of Sunrisers Leeds has been suspended as well.

While the team’s ownership hasn’t reacted to the backlash yet, Vettori stated that the decision was driven by supply and demand in the auction.

“Once we missed out on Adil Rashid [to Southern Brave], who was a priority early on, then we obviously jumped into the overseas spinner. There were four or five guys that we were looking at and Abrar was one of them. Very pleased to get him," Vettori said at the end of the auction.

The Leeds-based team is owned by Sun TV Network, an Indian media conglomerate that completed a full takeover of the franchise in 2025. The group acquired 49% of the team from the England and Wales Cricket Board and the remaining 51% stake from Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The franchise was previously known as Northern Superchargers.

The Sunrisers cricket network also operates Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 tournament in South Africa. Neither of those franchises has previously signed a Pakistani player.

While Vettori refused to comment on the relations between India and Pakistan, he confirmed that the coaches and management did not have any chat about not bidding for Pakistani players in the auction. He also said the franchise had their eyes on mystery spinner Usman Tariq, who was bought by Birmingham Phoenix for £140,000.

“We just planned for everyone who was in the auction. There wasn't a discussion about not picking Pakistan players. It was just a matter of who was the best option. After we missed out on Adil Rashid, the priority was going to get a spin bowler, and we didn't think that quality was in the local market, so we had to jump overseas. Rishad Hussain, Usman Tariq, and Abrar Ahmed were all guys that were on our radar,” said Vettori.

“It's a bit of a mystery. I don't think many English players have seen him, and he recently played in that Australian series. The feedback from the Australian guys was that he was going to be tricky to face, a lot of variations and an ability to strike in the powerplay, and still through the middle stages, which I think is a key requirement at Headingley. Spinners have been the only ones to really succeed there. To have him there is going to be a big difference for us,” he added.