BCCI Breaks Silence After Kavya Maran’s Sunrisers Leeds Picks Pakistan Star Abrar Ahmed

Kavya Maran, the owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad, has created some buzz in the country. Her group also owns a team in England’s The Hundred. During the 2026 auction for the tournament, their team Sunrisers Leeds bought Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed for £190,000. While all the other Indian owners refrained from bidding for Pakistanis, the Sunrisers team went ahead with the purchase.

Rajeev Shukla Clarifies BCCI’s Stand on Abrar Ahmed Deal

The same news was also shared on social media. However, many fans in India did not like it. Because of this, there has been some backlash and criticism on social media. Now, almost after a day, the BCCI has offered its take. BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla said on Friday, that they don’t have a say in what the Sunrisers Leeds end up doing. 

“Our domain is limited to the IPL. We have nothing to do with what they do in a league outside that. How can we interfere with them signing a player in a foreign league,” Shukla told ANI.

“That’s upto them. It’s purely upto the franchise who have bought a team outside India. If they are taking some player outside India in that league, we are least concerned because, in IPL there is no such player,” he added.

Earlier, there were concerns that Indian team owners were not bidding for Pakistani players. This pattern was followed for most players, but Abrar Ahmed was an exception. Even another in-demand player, Usman Tariq, was bought by Birmingham Phoenix, a team that is not owned by Indian investors. On the other hand, there were no takers for the likes of Saim Ayub, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan.

Sunrisers Leeds Full Squad: Abrar Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ryan Rickelton, Harry Brook, Nathan Ellis, Brydon Carse, Benny Howell, Daniel Lawrence, Tom Lawes, Tom Alsop, Zak Crawley, Ed Barnard, Reece Topley, Matthew Potts, Liam Patterson-White

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by Shekhar March 13, 2026