The Hundred Auction 2026: Kavya Maran faces heavy criticism for Abrar Ahmed's signing in Sunrisers Leeds
Following the Sunrisers franchise's acquisition of Pakistan's Abrar Ahmed at The Hundred Auction 2026, Indian fans have been criticising Sunrisers Leeds owner Kavya Maran on social media.
After the Pahalgam Attack in the year 2025, the political relations between India and Pakistan have been deteriorating. The relations between the two countries have soured, the effect of which has been seen in cricket as well. From the Asia Cup 2025 till now, the Indian team has decided not to shake hands with Pakistan even on the cricket field. India and Pakistan faced each other thrice in the Asia Cup 2025, then the Women's ODI World Cup, and recently held the T20 World Cup 2026, but the Indian team did not shake hands with Pakistani players even once.
Despite this, Kavya Maran’s Sunrisers Leeds made a bold call and acquired Abrar Ahmed in the Auction. Abrar's base price in the auction was 75,000 pounds, but due to the bidding war between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Trent Rockets, Abrar got a contract of a whopping 1,90,000 pounds (around INR 2.3 crore). With this, Abrar became the first Pakistani cricketer to be signed by an Indian-based franchise in the auction.
After Abrar’s signing in the Auction, Sunrisers Leeds have been facing a lot of criticism from Indian fans on social media. A large number of Indian supporters have voiced their disappointment with this signing.
For this auction, a total of 60 Pakistani players were registered. It was estimated that Indian-based franchises might avoid bidding for the Pakistani players. It seemed almost true when Pakistan’s star cricketers Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf went unsold in the auction.
After the auction, Indian fans brutally trolled Kavya Maran on social media; some even said that now IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad will be boycotted.
We don't need enemy from Outside. First we should fix these internal enemies.
— ॐ Er Prince Raj 🚩 (@PrinceRaj628) March 12, 2026
Hey @BCCI ban Sun Risers Leeds immediately.
We don't want any Pakistani/Bangladeshi players in IPL.
Pakistan is killing our civilians and security forces. 🤬🤬#BanAbrarAhmed | #IPL https://t.co/K78SnP71Z3 pic.twitter.com/wQaFq05eiX
Haris Rauf goes unsold in #TheHundredAuction but my biggest question is has he ever seen £100,000 in his life to put that as his base price? 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/HeReIjT762
— Prantik (@Pran__07) March 12, 2026
Just hours after the franchise signed Abrar Ahmed, Sunrisers Leeds official Social media handle X account was also suspended. There's no specific reason given by the platform for this, but it is believed that it happened due to heavy criticism.
🚨 'Sunrisers Leeds’ X Account Suspended 🚨
— Abhishek CH (@AbhishekCH9) March 13, 2026
“Sunrisers picked Abrar Ahmed at 8:30 PM, and by 2:00 AM their Twitter account was suspended. That’s the power of Indians”
They earn from India but choose 🇵🇰 Pakistani players. “Boycott Anti-Indian Sunrisers”#BoycottSunrisers
In the Hundred Auction 2026, only two Pakistani players were sold. Apart from Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq was sold by Birmingham Phoenix. Despite these, all other Pakistani players went unsold in the auction, including Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Saim Ayub, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Zaman Khan, Salman Mirza and others.
