Sunrisers signing of Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed in The Hundred league has ignited a fierce debate, raising questions about the inclusion of Pakistani players in cricket leagues and the implications of financial transactions between India and Pakistan.
Key Points
- Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed was drafted into The Hundred league by Sunrisers Leeds for a significant sum.
- The signing has sparked controversy due to the historical exclusion of Pakistani players from the Indian Premier League (after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
- Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi criticised the investment in a Pakistani player amid existing tensions.
The signing of Pakistan's ace spinner Abrar Ahmed by the The Chennai-based Sun Group Sunrisers franchise at The Hundred auction has quickly turned into a talking point.
The mystery spinner was snapped up by Sunrisers Leeds, owned by Kavya Maran, for 190,000 pounds (around Rs 2.34 crore/Rs 23.4 million) at the inaugural men/s Hundred auction in London. What followed was a wave of backlash, intense enough that the team's X account was briefly suspended amid the noise.
Pakistani players have not featured in the Indian Premier League since its inaugural 2008 season, after which they were excluded following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Over the years, Indian-owned franchises operating in overseas leagues have largely steered clear of signing Pakistani players.
The debate picked up further pace when former IPL chairman Lalit Modi weighed in. In a pointed post on X, he wrote, 'Investing Rs 2.34 crore on a Pakistani player when the fans are already on edge? I know a thing or two about managing optics and building empires. Call me.'
Modi didn't name anyone, but it didn’t take long for people to connect the dots. The fee, the timing, and the nationality all pointed towards Abrar Ahmed and the message only added fuel to an already heated conversation.
Reactions to the Signing
Earlier an angry Sunil Gavaskar slammed Sunrisers Hyderabad and said the payment made to the Pakistan player could 'indirectly contribute to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians'.
'The furore created by the acquisition of a Pakistani player by the Indian owner of a franchise in The Hundred is hardly surprising,' Gavaskar noted in his column for Mumbai's Mid-Day newspaper.
'Ever since the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, Indian franchise owners have simply ignored Pakistani players for the IPL.
'Although belated, the realisation that the fees that they pay to a Pakistani player, who then pays income tax to his government which buys arms and weapons, indirectly contributes to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians is making Indian entities refrain from even considering having Pakistani artistes and sportspersons.'
© 2026