London, March 12: Sunrisers Leeds bought Pakistani leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed for £190,000 (₹2.3 crore) on Thursday at the inaugural men's Hundred auction, making him the first Pakistani international signed by an Indian-owned franchise in the tournament.
The purchase of Abrar, who had a base price of £75,000, came after Sunrisers Leeds, owned by Indian media group Sun TV, won a bidding contest against Trent Rockets at the auction shortly before the lunch break.
Sun TV completed its acquisition of the franchise, previously known as Northern Superchargers, by buying a 49 percent stake from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the remaining 51 percent from Yorkshire for approximately £100 million.
The conglomerate also runs Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20) teams. Earlier reports suggested that IPL franchise-owned teams would avoid bidding for Pakistani players, and the early stages of Thursday's auction appeared to support that expectation until Abrar was picked.
No Pakistani player has featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009, and IPL franchise owners who have invested in franchise T20 leagues worldwide have generally avoided signing cricketers from the country.
The ECB said last month that selections in the auction would be based solely on "cricketing performance, availability, and the needs of each team." Nine Pakistani players have appeared across the competition's first five seasons, though none of the female cricketers from the country were picked in the women's auction on Wednesday.
Abrar was the second Pakistani player sold in the auction on Thursday morning, after mystery spinner Usman Tariq was bought by Birmingham Phoenix for £140,000. Several other Pakistani players, such as Saim Ayub, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan, also remained unsold.
Sunrisers Leeds, captained by Harry Brook and coached by Daniel Vettori, also picked up South Africa's Ryan Rickelton, England's Zak Crawley, Matt Potts, and Dan Lawrence in the early stages of the auction. The squad already includes Brydon Carse, Mitchell Marsh, and Nathan Ellis. The 2026 Hundred will run from July 21 to August 16 and will feature 34 men's and 34 women's matches.