&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Kavya Maran's Sunrisers Leeds buy Pakistan's Abrar Ahmed in Hundred auction. Now their X handle is suspended")
Sunrisers Leeds, owned by IPL franchise SunRisers Hyderabad, signed Pakistan's Abrar Ahmed in the Hundred during the inaugural men's auction in England on Thursday (Mar 12). The move has led to suspension of Leed's offical X account for 'violating the rules.' Although, it is not clear at this point that which rules were broken by the Hundred team. Abrar's signing came amid doubts about Pakistan players being bought by IPL-linked teams at the Hundred auction. He's the only Pakistan player to be bought by any of the four IPL-linked teams in the Hundred. The Leeds picked him for GBP 190,000 (INR 2.34 crore approx) at the auction.
Why Sunrisers Leeds' X account was suspended after signing of Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed?
In 2025, India vs Pakistan exchanged border hostilities in May after Pahalagam terror attack in India's Jammu and Kashmir in April. The Indian government banned the Pakistan-based social media handles in the country during the tensions and the ban is still in effect. There's no evidence, however, that the Leeds' X account was banned at the behest of the Indian government's direction for signing up a Pakistan player.
Amid all the speculation of IPL-linked team not going to bid for the Pakistan players in the men's Hundred auction, the franchises and the England Cricket Board (ECB) had issued a statment priot of the event that no player should be boycotted because of the nationality. Sunrisers Leeds is one of the four Hundred franchises in the Hundred with part or full investment from IPL-linked teams, SunRisers Hyderabad in this case.
The IPL-linked teams, which have ownership in various franchise across T20 leagues around the world, have historically steered clear of siginng any Pakistan-origin player - replicating the ban on the country in IPL because of poor relations between the two Asian neighours following 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
What Abrar's signing by an IPL-linked means for future?
The IPL-linked teams own many franchises across multiple T20 leagues arond the world - in South Africa's SA20, in the USA's Major League Cricket (MLC), in West Indies' Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and in USE-based ILT20 as well. Before Abrar ws signed, IPL-linked teams did not go for Pakistan players at the auction in any of those leagues which was defined a shadow ban.
With Sunrisers Leeds now doing the expected, the other leagues may also ask the IPL-linked team to not overlook the Pakistan players in auction which could mean more players may end playing for the IPL-linked teams in the future.
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