Sunrisers Leeds successfully bought mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed for £190,000 (US$255,000) on the morning of the inaugural men's Hundred auction in London, making him the first Pakistan player signed by an Indian-owned team in the tournament.
The Indian media conglomerate Sun TV completed a full takeover of the franchise formerly known as Northern Superchargers last year, buying a 49% stake from the ECB and the remaining 51% from Yorkshire for around £100 million. Stakes in three other Hundred teams were also sold to investors who own IPL franchises.
There has been significant scrutiny on whether those four franchises would bid on Pakistan players in Thursday's auction after reports of a potential 'shadow-ban', even after the eight franchises had committed to selecting based solely on "performance, availability, and the needs of each team" before 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," Sunrisers head coach, Daniel Vettori, said. "There were four or five guys that we were looking at and Abrar was one of them. Very pleased to get him."
Sunrisers - whose sister franchises Sunrisers Hyderabad (IPL) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20) have never previously signed an active Pakistan player - won a bidding war with Trent Rockets to secure Abrar's services shortly before the lunch break. Vettori stated there had been no discussions internally that the franchise would not select Pakistanis, and revealed he had sought the advice of Australia's players (Vettori is also Australia assistant coach), who had faced Abrar at the start of the year.
"We just planned for everyone that was in the auction. There wasn't a discussion [about not picking Pakistan players] - it was just 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, Abrar Ahmed - they were all guys that were on our radar.
"It's a bit of mystery. I don't think there are a lot of English players who have seen him, and he recently played in that Australian series. The feedback from the Australian guys was that he was going to be tricky to face, a lot of variations and an ability to strike in the powerplay, and still through the middle stages, which I think is a key requirement at Headingley. Spinners have been the only ones who have really succeeded there. To have him there is going to be a big difference for us."
Abrar was the second Pakistan player sold on Thursday morning after Usman Tariq, who was bought for £140,000 (US$187,000) by Birmingham Phoenix. Both Rockets and Phoenix are co-owned by their host counties (Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire respectively) and American investor groups.
Several Pakistan players have previously played for global T20 teams owned or part-owned by IPL franchises, but no active Pakistan internationals have featured in the IPL since 2008 due to the long-running geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan.
Uncapped Sussex allrounder James Coles was the most expensive player on Thursday, attracting an eye-watering £390,000 (US$522,000) salary from London Spirit after a five-way bidding war.
Coles, the 21-year-old who is widely tipped to make his international debut this summer, earned just £31,000 in the Hundred last summer when he played for Southern Brave. But he has since enjoyed a breakthrough winter on the franchise circuit, winning the SA20 with Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and also impressed in England Lions' series against Pakistan Shaheens.
From a base price of £75,000, Coles attracted early bids from Manchester Super Giants, as well as Phoenix and Rockets. Sunrisers Leeds entered the bidding at £220,000 and Rockets dropped out at £260,000, only for London Spirit to enter and eventually gazump Sunrisers to secure his services.
Coles is set to be the fourth-highest earner in the Hundred this summer, behind only Harry Brook (£465,000 at Sunrisers Leeds), Phil Salt (£450,000 at Welsh Fire) and Jofra Archer (£400,000 at Southern Brave) who were all pre-signed before Thursday's auction.
Thursday's bidding also saw substantial paydays for Jordan Cox (£300,000 at Welsh Fire), Tom Curran (£260,000 at MI London) and Adil Rashid (£250,000 at Southern Brave). Joe Root was the first player sold, for £240,000 (US$321,000) to Welsh Fire, while Dan Lawrence netted £210,000 (US$281,000) from Sunrisers after they missed out on Coles.
Aiden Markram attracted the highest bid of any overseas player, earning a £200,000 (US$277,000) contract at Manchester Super Giants. Markram already plays for two other Super Giants teams: Lucknow in the IPL, and Durban in the SA20.
The afternoon's bidding saw Scott Currie (£210,00 at Birmingham Phoenix) and Sam Billings (£180,000 at Trent Rockets) earn substantial deals, while England Under-19 captain Thomas Rew joined Southern Brave for £80,000 (US$107,000) despite having played only three first-team T20 matches. Mustafizur Rahman later became the first Bangladesh player to be signed for the Hundred when he was nominated during the final round by Birmingham Phoenix, picked up for his base price of £100,000 (US$133,000).