SunRisers Leeds’ X account was suspended on Thursday, hours after the franchise signed Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed in the Hundred’s player auction. He became the first Pakistani player to be signed by
an Indian-owned team in The Hundred after the Sunrisers bagged his services for USD 255,000 (Rs 2.35 crore).
But the move didn’t go down well with many in India, as multiple fans took to social media to criticise the team and franchise owner Kavya Maran for signing a Pakistani cricketer and going against national sentiment.
At The Hundred men’s player auction, Kavya was seen at the table alongside head coach Daniel Vettori. In the lead-up to the auction, there was significant scrutiny over whether the four Indian-owned teams would bid for Pakistan players amidst reports of a potential shadow ban.
Just hours after the team signed Abrar, Sunrisers Leeds’ official X (formerly Twitter) account was suspended. While the platform hasn’t provided a specific reason, users attempting to access the account are met with a pop-up message stating, “Account suspended. X suspends accounts that violate the X rules.”
Sun TV Network had completed a full takeover of the Leeds team in The Hundred, earlier known as the Northern Superchargers, last year, acquiring a 49% stake from the England and Wales Cricket Board and the remaining 51% from Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
Earlier, all eight Hundred franchises had pledged to select cricketers based on ‘performance, availability and the needs of each team’ ahead of the auction.
The Sunrisers’ sister teams, the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20, have never signed an active Pakistan player.
At the Hundred auction, however, the franchise won a bidding war against the Trent Rockets to bag Abrar’s services.
Vettori revealed that he had sought feedback from Aussie players who had faced Abrar earlier this year, after which he decided to pursue the spinner. He also stated that the team didn’t hold any internal meetings to decide whether they would pick Pakistani cricketers at the auction.
