Sunrisers Leeds head coach Daniel Vettori explained that the decision to sign Pakistan’s mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed came after the team missed out on their first-choice spinner, Adil Rashid, in the men’s player auction for The Hundred. The Sun TV-owned franchise bought Abrar for USD 255,000, making him the first Pakistani player to be signed by an Indian-owned team in the tournament.
The move, however, did not sit well with some fans in India, who took to social media to criticise Sunrisers Leeds and team owner Kavya Maran, saying it went against national sentiment. Adding to the controversy, the team’s official X (formerly Twitter) account was suspended, though no clear reason was provided.
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Vettori said the choice was purely based on cricketing reasons and supply and demand in the auction.
“Once we missed out on Adil Rashid, who was our priority early on, we looked at overseas spinners. Abrar was one of four or five players on our radar, and we are very pleased to have him,” he said after the auction ended.
Sun TV took full control of the Northern Superchargers last year by buying a 49% stake from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the remaining 51% from Yorkshire. While other Indian-owned teams in The Hundred did not pick Pakistani players, Vettori stressed that the decision was based solely on talent.
Was there any discussion for not picking Pakistan players?
Notably, before the auction, some reports indicated that Indian-owned The Hundred franchises will not pick Pakistani players in the auction.
“There wasn’t any discussion about not picking Pakistani players. We just focused on who was the best option,” Vettori said. He added that the team had also been watching spinners like Usman Tariq and Rishad Hussain. “After we missed out on Adil Rashid, the priority was to get a good spinner. We didn’t see that quality locally, so we had to look overseas,” he explained.
Vettori described Abrar as a bit of a mystery. “Not many English players have faced him, but he recently played in Australia. The feedback we got from the Australian players is that he is tricky to face, has many variations, and can strike in the powerplay and middle overs. That’s exactly what we need at Headingley, where spinners have been key. Having him in the team will make a big difference,” he added.