Sunrisers Leeds’ X account suspended hours after signing Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed in The Hundred auction

Backlash against Sunrisers Leeds intensified after the franchise signed Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed during The Hundred 2026 men’s auction on Thursday, with the team’s official X account getting suspended just hours after the announcement.

Abrar was bought for £190,000 (around Rs 2.3 crore), making him the first Pakistani international to be signed by an Indian-owned team in the tournament. The move sparked sharp criticism from several Indian fans, many of whom took to social media to express anger towards the franchise and its owners.

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Just hours after the signing, the franchise’s official account on X (formerly Twitter) was suspended. While the platform has not provided a specific reason, users attempting to access the account are met with a message stating, “Account suspended. X suspends accounts that violate the X rules.”

Backlash against #SunrisersLeeds intensified after the franchise signed Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed during The Hundred 2026 men’s auction on Thursday, with the team’s official X account getting suspended just hours after the announcement.#AbrarAhmed #TheHundred #KavyaMaran… pic.twitter.com/yYLnI0aHW4

— The Statesman (@TheStatesmanLtd) March 13, 2026

The franchise is owned by the Sun TV Network, which recently acquired the team previously known as the Northern Superchargers. The company bought a 49 per cent stake from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the remaining 51 per cent from Yorkshire for approximately £100 million.

Earlier reports had suggested that teams owned by Indian Premier League franchises would avoid bidding for Pakistani players, a stance that had drawn criticism from several members of the English cricket fraternity. The early stages of Thursday’s auction appeared to support those expectations until Abrar was eventually picked.

No Pakistan player has featured in the Indian Premier League since 2009, and IPL franchise owners investing in T20 leagues around the world have generally refrained from signing players from the country.

The ECB had earlier clarified that auction selections would be based purely on “cricketing performance, availability, and the needs of each team.” Across the competition’s first five seasons, nine Pakistani players have featured in The Hundred, though none of the country’s female cricketers were picked in the women’s auction earlier this week.

Abrar was the second Pakistan player sold in Thursday’s auction after mystery spinner Usman Tariq was bought by the Birmingham Phoenix for £140,000. Meanwhile, several other Pakistani cricketers, including Saim Ayub, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan, went unsold.

Led by captain Harry Brook and coached by Daniel Vettori, Sunrisers Leeds also picked up Ryan Rickelton, Zak Crawley, Matt Potts and Dan Lawrence during the early stages of the auction.

The 2026 edition of The Hundred is scheduled to run from July 21 to August 16, featuring 34 men’s and 34 women’s matches.