Big Buy for Abrar Ahmed in The Hundred 2026 Auction as Shadab Khan, Faf du Plessis Go Unsold

Sunrisers Leeds purchased Pakistani spin bowler Abrar Ahmed for a whopping £190,000 (approximately ₹2.34 crore) on Thursday in the English franchise league, The Hundred 2026, for the franchise. Sunrisers Leeds is a franchise owned by the Sun Group, owned by Kalanithi Maran. Sunrisers CEO Kavya Maran was also present at The Hundred auction. Her purchase of Abrar has become a topic of discussion. Meanwhile, several prominent players, including Shadab Khan and Daryl Mitchell, remained unsold in this auction. Let's take a look at the list of players who went unsold at auction.

It's a long time since an IPL franchise has purchased a Pakistani player at auction. Especially after Operation Sindoor, Sunrisers Hyderabad's purchase of Abrar Ahmed has become a topic of discussion. Kavya Maran is also being trolled on social media for this. It's worth noting that Pakistani players have not been allowed to play in the IPL since 2008. IPL-owned franchises have also not purchased Pakistani players in SA20 and ILT20.

It's worth noting that the Sun Group also runs the Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20) teams. Initial reports suggested that IPL franchise-owned teams would refrain from bidding on Pakistani players, which was expected in the early stages of Thursday's auction, but that did not happen.