Sunrisers Leeds X account suspended after fan backlash over Abrar Ahmed auction pick

Sunrisers Leeds X account has been suspended after The Hundred team picked up Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed in the auction on March 12 which caused an uproar from fans on social media. Significantly, the action taken by X appears to be preventive rather than punitive towards Sunrisers Leeds.

When Abrar's name came up for bidding two teams were interested in obtaining the leg spinner's services - Trent Rockets and Sunrisers Leeds. A bidding war between the two ensued which led to the former stop when the latter placed a bid of GBP 190,000 and so the player was sold to the Indian-owned team.

Daniel Vettori, head coach of the Sunrisers, explained the reasoning behind going for Abrar and revealed that there was no discussion on not picking Pakistani players.

"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.

"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," said Vettori as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Sunrisers Leeds is a sister franchise of the Sunrisers group which also comprises the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad and SA20 franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Notably, the other two franchises have not picked any active Pakistan player before and there were rumours going around of Indian-owned Hundred teams not pursuing any Pakistan player in line with the 'shadow ban' that is in place post the first season of the IPL in 2008.

However, Sunrisers Leeds defied the speculation and went after Abrar. Importantly, no other Indian-owned team - Manchester Super Giants, MI London, and Southern Brave - picked up a Pakistani player. In fact, Abrar is one of two Pakistani men's players to be picked up with the other one being mystery spinner Usman Tariq who went to Birmingham Phoenix.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that a Pakistani player finds themself a part of a franchise which is owned - fully or partially - by an IPL franchise. Azam Khan played for Barbados Royals which is owned by Rajasthan Royals in the CPL with Fatima Sana representing its women’s outfit. Similarly, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, and Yasir Shah also turned out for another CPL team, Trinbago Knight Riders, owned by the consortium which also owns Kolkata Knight Riders.