BCCI's Shukla: No Say in Sunrisers Leeds Signing Pak Spinner Abrar Ahmed

Shukla: IPL Our Limit

Shukla emphasized that the BCCI doesn’t have any influence over the franchise's choices outside of the IPL, stating that their focus is solely on the Indian Premier League. Essentially, it’s up to the franchise to decide who they want to bring on board.
“Our domain is limited to the IPL . We have nothing to do with what they do in a league outside that. How can we interfere with them signing a player in a foreign league. That’s upto them. It’s purely upto the franchise who have bought a team outside India. If they are taking some player outside India in that league, we are least concerned because, in IPL there is no such player,” Shukla said to ANI.

Maran and Vettori's Big Bid at Auction

On March 12, Sunrisers Leeds made headlines when they invested a whopping £190,000 to secure Abrar at the auction. The team’s chief executive, Kavya Maran, along with head coach Daniel Vettori, were present at the Piccadilly Lights in London, where they successfully outbid Trent Rockets for the talented spinner.
This signing marked a significant moment, as it’s been quite some time since an IPL-affiliated franchise has brought a Pakistani player into their ranks.

Vettori: 'Very Pleased' with Abrar Signing

Vettori expressed his excitement about the acquisition, noting that the team is “very pleased” to have Abrar join them, especially after missing out on their top choice for a spin option during the auction.
“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," Vettori said.

Eyes for Usman Tariq Too

He chose not to delve into the historical tensions between India and Pakistan but confirmed that the coaching staff never discussed the absence of Pakistani players in the auction. Interestingly, he also mentioned that they had been eyeing mystery spinner Usman Tariq as well.
He said, "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."