LONDON: Sunrisers Leeds, owned by Chennai-based media conglomerate Sun Group, on Thursday bought mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed during the Hundred player auction, making him the first Pakistan player to be signed by an Indian-owned franchise in the tournament.
The Sunrisers gave GBP 190000 (Rs 2.34 crore approximately) to acquire the services of Ahmed after a bidding war with Trent Rockets.
The League will run from July 21 to August 16.
His signing also put to rest the talks that Indian Hundred owners will not bid for Pakistan players, as the franchises from the IPL have not engaged them since 2009 owing to strained diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring nations.
The Sun Group, which also owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, completed a full takeover of erstwhile Northern Superchargers last year, buying a 49 per cent stake from the ECB and the remaining 51 per cent from county club Yorkshire for around GBP 100 million. The Sunrisers CEO Kavya Maran attended the auction and did the paddle-raising duty.
They 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 another mystery spinner Usman Tariq was bought by Birmingham Phoenix for GBP 140,000 (Rs 1.72 crore approximately).
However, Phoenix have no IPL connection.
Pakistan Pacer Harris Rauf, off-spin all-rounder Saim Ayub and spinner Shadab Khan earlier went unsold.
Seasoned left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi had earlier withdrawn himself from the auction.
The only two Pakistan players in Wednesday’s women’s Hundred auction Fatima Sana and Sadia Iqbal also went unsold.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was sold to Phoenix for GBP 100000 (Rs 1.23 crore approximately).
It may be recalled that Rahman was released by IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders at the BCCI’s direction, leading to a chain of events which culminated in Bangladesh’s ouster from the recently-concluded T20 World Cup.
Sussex all-rounder James Coles attracted the biggest bid of the day from London Spirit GBP 390000 (Rs 4.8 crore approximately).