Kavya Maran’s Sunrisers Leeds Sign Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed At Hundred Auction — X Account Suspended Hours Later

Sunrisers Leeds made history at the inaugural men’s Hundred auction in England on Thursday, March 12, when they signed Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed for GBP 190,000 (approximately INR 2.34 crore). The franchise, part-owned by IPL team SunRisers Hyderabad, became the only IPL-linked team to buy a Pakistan player across all four IPL-affiliated Hundred franchises.

Within hours of the signing, Sunrisers Leeds’ official X account was suspended for what the platform cited as a violation of its rules. No specific details have emerged about which rule was breached.

The suspension has fuelled speculation online, particularly given the backdrop of India-Pakistan tensions. In April 2025, a terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, triggered a period of border hostilities between the two countries in May. The Indian government subsequently banned Pakistan-based social media handles in the country, a restriction that remains in place. There is, however, no evidence that the Leeds account suspension was directed by the Indian government in response to the team signing a Pakistan player.

Abrar’s selection had already drawn significant attention before auction day. Questions had circulated about whether IPL-linked Hundred franchises would bid on Pakistan players at all. Before the auction, both the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the IPL-affiliated franchises issued a joint statement that no player should be excluded on the basis of nationality.

A Pattern — And Possibly A Break From It

Historically, IPL-linked franchise owners have not signed Pakistan players in any T20 league where they hold stakes. This has applied across the SA20 in South Africa, Major League Cricket (MLC) in the USA, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in the West Indies, and the ILT20 in the UAE. The practice has widely been described as a shadow ban mirroring the de facto exclusion of Pakistan players from the IPL itself, a policy traced back to the fallout from the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

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Abrar’s signing by Sunrisers Leeds breaks that pattern. It also raises questions about whether other leagues with IPL-linked franchise ownership will now face pressure to follow suit and open their auctions to Pakistani cricketers a change that could see more Pakistan players feature in IPL-connected teams globally in the coming seasons.