London, March 12 Sunrisers Leeds, owned by the Chennai-based Sun Group, bought mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed during the Hundred player auction on Thursday, making him the first Pakistani player to be signed by an Indian-owned franchise in the tournament.
Sunrisers paid GBP 190,000 (approximately Rs 2.34 crore) to acquire Ahmed's services after a bidding war with Trent Rockets.
The league will run from July 21 to August 16.
His signing also ended the speculation that Indian owners of the Hundred would not bid for Pakistani players, as franchises from the IPL have not engaged them since 2009 due to strained diplomatic relations between the two neighboring nations.
The Sun Group, which also owns Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, completed a full takeover of erstwhile Northern Superchargers last year, buying a 49% stake from the ECB and the remaining 51% from county club Yorkshire for around GBP 100 million. Sunrisers CEO Kavya Maran attended the auction and oversaw the bidding process.
They also own Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 but do not have a Pakistani player on their roster.
Abrar was the second Pakistani player sold during the auction after another mystery spinner, Usman Tariq, was bought by Birmingham Phoenix for GBP 140,000 (approximately Rs 1.72 crore).
However, Phoenix has no connection to the IPL.
Pakistani pacers Harris Rauf, off-spin all-rounder Saim Ayub, and spinner Shadab Khan had previously been unsold.
Seasoned left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi had earlier withdrawn from the auction.
The only two Pakistani players in Wednesday's women's Hundred auction – Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal – were also unsold.
Mustafizur goes to Phoenix
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Meanwhile, Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman was sold to Phoenix for GBP 100,000 (approximately Rs 1.23 crore).
It may be recalled that Rahman was released by IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders at the BCCI's direction, leading to a chain of events that culminated in Bangladesh's ouster from the recently-concluded T20 World Cup.
Sussex all-rounder James Coles attracted the biggest bid of the day from London Spirit – GBP 390,000 (approximately Rs 4.8 crore).