Sunrisers Leeds has been the target of critics after buying Pakistani player Abrar Ahmed. Sunrisers Leeds had bought Abrar for 1.90 lakh pounds (about Rs 2.34 crore) for England’s franchise league ‘The Hundred’, the ownership of this franchise is with Sun Group. He also owns the IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite the tension between India and Pakistan, Sun Group is being criticized after buying Abrar. Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has also criticized it.
Kavya Maran is also being criticized, who is the CEO of the Sunrisers franchise and was present during the auction of The Hundred. Sunil Gavaskar believes that the kind of reactions coming after buying Pakistani player Abrar is natural. In his column written in Mid-Day, Gavaskar reminded how Pakistani players were banned from IPL after the terrorist attack in Mumbai (2008). After this, relations between the two countries deteriorated further after the terrorist attacks in Pulwama (2019) and Pahalgam (2025).
Gavaskar believes that the money received by Pakistani players will also reach the Pakistan government in the form of tax, which can also be used to buy weapons. That means the money given to Pakistani players can be used for the blood of Indians. He wrote that Sunrisers Leeds coach Daniel Vettori may not understand this, but the Indian owners should have understood.
Sunil Gavaskar wrote, ‘If the owner of the team is an Indian, then he is indirectly giving money to the system which can cause the death of Indian soldiers and people. Is winning this tournament more important than the lives of Indian people? In which players from very few countries of the world play.
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