At the first Men’s Hundred auction, held in London on Thursday, March 12, Sunrisers Leeds acquired Abrar Ahmed for an incredible sum.
However, a number of Indians were offended by this action and attacked owner Kavya Maran. Fans claim that Sunrisers’ purchase of the Pakistani cricket player has damaged their feelings. Following the Pahalgam terror assault and the ensuing Operation Sindoor, there has been a great deal of political animosity between India and Pakistan.
After a change in ownership, Sunrisers Leeds—formerly known as Northern Superchargers—became the first Indian conglomerate-owned team to purchase a Pakistani player.
India’s cricket governing body has no influence in Sunrisers Leeds’ decision to recruit Pakistan’s leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed in The Hundred, according to BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla. A contract worth 190,000 GBP (INR 2.34 crore) was awarded to him.
“Our domain is limited to the IPL. We have nothing to do with what they do in a league outside that. How can we interfere with them signing a player in a foreign league? That’s up to them. It’s purely up to the franchise that has bought a team outside India. If they are taking some player outside India in that league, we are least concerned because, in the IPL, there is no such player,” Rajeev Shukla, the BCCI vice-president, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz on Friday.
The Sunrisers’ administration, on the other hand, stayed silent and informally insisted that it had not received any directives from any authority about the recruiting of Pakistani players. However, this is not the first time a Pakistani player has been signed by an Indian-owned team to play abroad.
On Saturday, March 28, Sunrisers Hyderabad will begin their campaign in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). In the curtain raiser at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, they take on the reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru. After placing sixth in the points table the previous year, the Orange Army would like to make a big comeback.
