Why Sunrisers Leeds bought Pakistan spinner at The Hundred auction: Vettori explains

NEW DELHI: The signing of Pakistan enigma spinner Abrar Ahmed by Sunrisers Leeds astatine the 2026 subordinate auction created a tempest connected societal media successful India, but caput manager Daniel Vettori has explained that the determination was purely a cricketing determination aft the franchise missed retired connected England prima Adil Rashid.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Sunrisers Leeds, owned by the Sun TV Network, secured Abrar for USD 255,000 astatine the inaugural men’s auction for The Hundred, making him the archetypal Pakistani subordinate to beryllium picked by an Indian-owned franchise successful the tournament. The determination drew disapproval from immoderate fans successful India, who questioned the determination and targeted franchise proprietor Kavya Maran connected societal media.Speaking aft the auction, Vettori said the team’s strategy changed aft Rashid was snapped up by Southern Brave.

ALSO READ: Sunrisers Leeds’ authoritative X relationship suspended soon aft signing Abrar Ahmed“Once we missed retired connected Adil Rashid, who was a precedence aboriginal on, past we evidently jumped into the overseas spinner market. There were 4 oregon 5 guys we were looking at, and Abrar was 1 of them. Very pleased to get him,” Vettori said.He stressed that determination had been nary interior discussions astir avoiding Pakistani players contempt earlier reports suggesting a imaginable shadiness prohibition for Indian-owned teams.

“We conscionable planned for everyone who was astatine the auction. There wasn’t a treatment astir not picking Pakistan players. It was simply astir who was the champion enactment available,” helium explained.Vettori added that the franchise had identified respective overseas spinners, including

Usman Tariq

and Rishad Hossain, earlier yet deciding connected Abrar.“It’s a spot of a mystery. Many English players haven’t seen him much. He precocious played against Australia and the feedback from their players was that he’s tricky to face, with a batch of variations and the quality to onslaught successful the powerplay and done the mediate overs,” Vettori said.According to the erstwhile New Zealand captain, Abrar’s skillset could beryllium peculiarly invaluable astatine Headingley Cricket Ground, wherever spinners person historically played a decisive role.“Spinners person been the ones who win there. Having idiosyncratic similar Abrar could marque a large quality for us,” helium added.