Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have copped some heavy criticism from fans over the signing of Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed for their sister franchise in The Hundred, Sunrisers Leeds. Abrar was roped in by Sunrisers’ Yorkshire-based team last week for 190,000 pounds (approx. Rs 2.34 crore) during the inaugural auction of The Hundred. Reacting to the controversial move, head coach Daniel Vettori said that they wanted a spinner in the squad, and once they missed out on Adil Rashid, they saw Abrar as the best option.
Amid the ongoing controversy, there is speculation doing the rounds on social media claiming that former India captain Rohit Sharma has unfollowed SRH.
However, NDTV could not independently verify the claim. As of today, March 16, Rohit only follows 112 accounts on Instagram. In fact, apart from Mumbai Indians, he does not follow any other franchise.
Consequently, it is not clear whether Rohit followed the Hyderabad-based side in the past. Social media users also claimed that even Mumbai Indians (MI) to have unfollowed SRH on Instagram.
Kavya Maran Bought a Pakistani player sidelining the emotions of Indian people, Now IPL franchise has started boycotting them.Nation above Everything. pic.twitter.com/YvOhoxdZPz
— hey.anshh (@Onlyanshh) March 14, 2026
Kavya Maran Bought a Pakistani player sidelining the emotions of Indian people, Now IPL franchise has started boycotting them.Nation above Everything. pic.twitter.com/r1JyfTY7Rf
— Courageous (@CourageousRo) March 13, 2026
Rohit has a strong connection with Hyderabad, having represented the now-defunct Deccan Chargers between 2008 and 2010.
However, Deccan Chargers were owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. Meanwhile, SRH and Sunrisers Leeds fall under the Chennai-based Sun Group.
Sun Group completed its acquisition of Sunrisers Leeds, previously known as the Northern Superchargers, by buying a 49 per cent stake from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the remaining 51 per cent from Yorkshire for about 100 million pounds.
Earlier reports suggested IPL franchise-owned teams would avoid bidding for Pakistani players, and the early stages of Thursday’s auction appeared to support that expectation until Abrar was picked.
No Pakistani player has featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009, and IPL franchise owners who have invested in franchise T20 leagues worldwide have generally avoided signing cricketers from the country.
The ECB said last month that selections in the auction would be based solely on “cricketing performance, availability, and the needs of each team.”
(With PTI Inputs)