Sun TV and Kavya Maran have purchased a stake in one of the Hundred franchises, named Northern Superchargers, and since their taking charge the franchise has been renamed Sunrisers Leeds. Franchise owner Kavya Maran is the owner of the Sunrisers franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). She has been trending all over social media since last night.
Kavya Maran and Sunrisers Leads became the only IPL owned franchise to buy a Pakistan national cricket team player. The IPL-owned franchise bought Abrar Ahmed for a price of around Rs 2.34 crore. Kavya Maran has since faced severe criticism on social media, especially on X (formerly Twitter), and even the official X handle of Sunrisers Leeds has been suspended.
BCCI Vice President gave verdict on SRH
Sunrisers management has not yet responded to the protest from India. There will be some serious consequences for Kavya Maran and the Sunrisers franchise during the IPL, as fans may become salty after the selection of Abrar Ahmed. Since no other Indian-owned franchise in the same league has bought any player from Pakistan.
Amidst all this controversy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released its first statement, and BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla has shared his views and clarified that it is up to the franchises to take decisions, and BCCI has no authority over foreign leagues.
Rajiv Shukla said, “This has nothing to do with IPL. It is a foreign league. It is not under our jurisdiction. We cannot do anything. They have to take a decision.”
abrar ahmed is troubling
Sunrisers Leeds head coach Daniel Vettori revealed that the franchise was looking for a mystery spinner, and another Pakistani spinner, Usman Tariq, was on the list; However, the spinner was picked up by Birmingham Phoenix, and Adil Rashid moved to another team. That’s why they went for someone like Abrar Ahmed.
Talking about the Hundred auction, on Thursday, March 12, 2026, the Hundred (men’s competition) held its first player auction at Piccadilly Lights in central London. Previously, the tournament was organized differently, with the first five editions using a draft system to allocate players to franchises.
Sunrisers Leads is facing criticism
Four of the eight franchises have been bought by Indian-owned business tycoons who also own IPL franchises. Oval Invincibles are now known as MI London, Manchester Originals as Manchester Super Giants.
Northern Superchargers are Sunrisers Leeds. Only the Southern Braves have retained their name, as they are owned by the GMR Group, which also owns the Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
Since the installation of the new Indian owners, there were rumors that a partial ban would be imposed on Pakistani players and that any team involving Indians would not pick Pakistani players. However, except Sunrisers Leeds, all other Indian-owned franchises have maintained their stance and have not picked any players from Pakistan.
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