The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice president Rajiv Shukla has opened up about Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) owners Sun Group, headed by Kavya Maran, buying Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed in The Hundred auction on March 12, 2026, for their franchise Sunrisers Leeds.
The auction had raised concerns about whether the four clubs owned by IPL investors would bid for Pakistani players, despite the eight teams pledging to make selections based on "performance, availability, and the needs of each team."
Sunrisers, whose sister franchises are Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20, have never previously signed an active Pakistan player. However, Sunrisers Leeds paid 190,000 pounds for the services of Abrar Ahmed in the auction.
Abrar was the second Pakistani player sold in the auction after Usman Tariq, who was picked up by Birmingham Phoenix for 140,000 pounds (US$187,000).
Much of the ire aimed against Abrar stems from an old social media post in which he appeared to be attacking India, notably Indian Air Force commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistani forces during a 2019 skirmish between India and Pakistan.
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, he posted a video of Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub drinking tea while Abrar made statements that many saw as insulting to India. He had previously posted about drinking tea, which was taken as anti-Indian.
Amidst the outcry over Pakistani cricketer Abrar Ahmed's signing by Sunrisers Leeds in The Hundred auction, BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla said on Friday that the Board cannot intervene because the transaction is tied to a foreign competition and the franchise must make a decision.
"It is not in our domain (IPL); they have done it for some foreign league. They will have to take a call; we cannot do anything,” Shukla told ANI.
Sun TV, an Indian media behemoth, completed a full takeover of the team, which was previously known as Northern Superchargers last year. For around 100 million pounds, the group acquired a 49 percent share from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the remaining 51 percent from Yorkshire.
