Sunrisers Leeds have found themselves in troubled waters after picking Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed in their squad in the inaugural The Hundred auction on Thursday. Their co-owner, Kavya Maran, has faced massive backlash on social media for the same reason and there have been calls to even boycott Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), which is set to start from March 28.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers Leeds head coach Daniel Vettori has opened up on securing the services of Abrar Ahmed at the auction. He stated that they aimed to go for Adil Rashid, who eventually went to Southern Brave for GBP 250,000 (Rs 3.08 crore). After they lost the England leggie, the Sunrisers franchise decided to pick Abrar and were hellbent on securing his services which they did for Rs 2.34 crore.
"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," Vettori said after the conclusion of the auction.
Vettori confirms they had an eye on Usman Tariq
On expected lines, Daniel Vettori was also asked whether there were discussions about not picking any Pakistani players which he denied. Moreover, he also refrained from commenting on the relations between India and Pakistan while also confirming that they also had their eyes on mystery spinner Usman Tariq.
"We just planned for everyone who was in the auction. There wasn't a discussion about not picking Pakistan players. It was just a matter of 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, and Abrar Ahmed were all guys that were on our radar.
Notably, Usman Tariq was the only other Pakistan player to be sold in the auction as Birmingham Phoenix secured his services.
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