Bad news for SRH owner Kavya Maran days before IPL 2026, after buying Pakistan cricketer Abrar Ahmed for Rs 23400000 her team has…

Kavya Maran and Sun TV Group were the only Indian franchise owner to bid and buy a Pakistan player when they signed up Abrar Ahmed.

The Hundred 2026 Player Auction: Sunrisers Hyderabad owner Sun TV Group and Kavya Maran were the only one brave enough from India to bid and ultimately buy a Pakistan cricketer in The Hundred 2026 season Player Auction on Thursday. While top Pakistan cricketers like Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub and Shadab Khan went unsold, Kavya Maran’s Sunrisers Leeds – a sister team of SRH – bought Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed for Rs 2.34 crore or 190,000 Pounds on Thursday.

Kavya Maran and her Sunrisers Leeds team paid a heavy price for buying Abrar Ahmed at the auction as Indian cricket fans exploded on social media immediately after the new spread around the world. Apart from Abrar Ahmed, off-spinner Usman Tariq was the only Pakistan cricketer bought at The Hundred 2026 Player Auction, with the office going to Birmingham Phoenix – one of the two teams not owned by India’s IPL owners.

Just a few hours after Abrar was bought by Sunrisers Leeds, their official ‘X’ account was suspended. A pop-up showing the message ‘Account suspended. X suspends accounts which violate the X rules,’ appeared in place of their account instead.

SUNRISERS LEADS ACCOUNT SUSPENDED.
– The official X account of Sunrisers Leeds was suspended after facing heavy outrage from Indian fans for buying Abrar Ahmed in The Hundred auction. pic.twitter.com/7b7xw1wVnA
— Sam (@Cricsam01) March 13, 2026

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It is believed that the account was suspended due to heavy abuse taken by the Sunrisers Leeds owners in the aftermath of their decision to buy Abrar Ahmed at the player auction. No other IPL-owned franchise of the Hundred, including Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani’s MI London, GMR Group owned Southern Brave or Sanjiv Goenka’s Manchester Super Giants bid for any Pakistan cricketer.

Kavya Maran and Sun TV Group had bought 100 per cent stake in Northern Superchargers franchise in The Hundred last year spending over 100 million pounds or over Rs 1100 crore. The Hundred 2026 league will run from July 21 to August 16.

Kavya Maran’s Sun TV group also own Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20 but don’t have a Pakistan player in their roster. Abrar was the second Pakistan player sold during the auction after Tariq was bought by Birmingham Phoenix for GBP 140,000 (Rs 1.72 crore approximately).

‘No discussion on not picking Pakistan players’

Pakistan Haris Rauf, all-rounder Saim Ayub and leg-spinner Shadab Khan earlier went unsold.

“Once we missed out on Adil Rashid (to Southern Brave), who was a priority early on, then we obviously jumped into the overseas spinner. There were four or five guys that we were looking at and Abrar was one of them. Very pleased to get him,” Sunrisers Leeds head coach Daniel Vettori was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo website.

“We just planned for everyone that was in the auction. There wasn’t a discussion (about not picking Pakistan players) – it was just who was the best option. After we missed out on Adil Rashid, the priority was going to get a spin bowler and we didn’t think that quality was in the local market, so we had to jump overseas. Rishad Hussain, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed – they were all guys that were on our radar,” Vettori added.

Pakistan ODI captain Shaheen Shah Afridi had earlier withdrawn himself from the auction. The only two Pakistan players in Wednesday’s women’s The Hundred 2026 auction — Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal — also went unsold.

It will be interesting to see how this decision will affect Sunrisers Hyderabad popularity in the upcoming IPL 2026 season. SRH are scheduled to play the opening match of IPL 2026 against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28.

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