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  "path": "/news/1974721/alarm-over-pakistanis-exclusion-from-hundred-competition",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-21T02:50:04.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "Pakistan",
    "_BBC_",
    "Colombo showdown",
    "called off",
    "launched"
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  "textContent": "• BBC, Telegraph reports say Indian-owned franchises won’t bid for Pakistani players\n• Former England captain Vaughan says ECB should not allow this to happen\n\nFORMER captain Michael Vaughan has urged the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to “act fast” on reports that Pakistani players will be overlooked by Indian-owned teams in the domestic Hundred competition.\n\nThe issue could be a factor during next month’s player auction for English cricket’s Hundred, a 100 balls-per-side competition featuring eight franchises rather than the traditional 18 first-class counties.\n\n_BBC Sport_ and _The Telegraph_ have reported that with four of the eight franchises in the upcoming tournament owned by companies that control teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), it is “an unwritten rule” that Pakistani players would not be considered for those team.\n\nAccording to the _BBC_, a senior ECB official indicated to an agent that interest in his Pakistan players would be limited to sides not linked to the IPL.\n\nVaughan, referencing the ECB’s stated aim of cricket becoming the most inclusive sport in the country, posted on Friday on X: “The ECB need to act fast on this … they own the league, and this should not be allowed to happen … The most inclusive sport in the country is not one that allows this to happen.”\n\n> \n\nThe Pakistan Cricket Board has not commented on the situation so far.\n\n**Politics, not sport**\n\nLongstanding political tensions between India and Pakistan have led to the rivals only playing each other in international cricket events, although their recent Colombo showdown at the ongoing T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka only went ahead after Pakistan called off a boycott.\n\nPolitics has also led to an effective ban on Pakistani players participating in the Indian Premier League, world cricket’s most lucrative T20 franchise competition.\n\nAnd with several IPL owners now owning teams in several different countries, opportunities for Pakistani cricketers to participate in various leagues are in danger of being reduced further.\n\nPlayers will go under the hammer in London on March 11-12, with the _BBC_ reporting that the four Indian-affiliated Hundred teams — Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds — will deliberately avoid selecting players from Pakistan.\n\nTwo Pakistani international players — Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim — appeared in last year’s Hundred tournament, which was the final edition before new investors took control.\n\nOthers — including Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf — featured in earlier seasons of the men’s competition. No Pakistan players have appeared in the women’s Hundred.\n\n**‘Systemic isolation’**\n\nThe _BBC_ highlighted the exclusion of Pakistan players in what it called “a growing trend in franchise cricket”.\n\nNo Pakistanis have featured in South Africa’s SA20, which launched in 2023. All six of its teams are owned by IPL franchise groups — including the four now involved in The Hundred.\n\nIn the UAE’s ILT20, franchises controlled by the owners of MI London and Southern Brave have not signed a Pakistan player across four seasons, but have recruited cricketers from 15 other nationalities.\n\nBy contrast, American-owned ILT20 side Desert Vipers have signed eight Pakistan players over the same period.\n\nCommenting on the development, _BBC_ cricket pundit Aatif Nawaz said “There is no merit-based reason for Pakistani players to be excluded from any franchise T20 competition”.\n\n“Call it what it really is: systemic isolation,” he wrote on X.\n\n> \n\nAccording to the _BBC_ , the ECB sold its 49pc stakes in each of the eight Hundred franchises last year — raising £500m in private investment that has since been distributed to counties and the grassroots game.\n\nThe ECB retains control of the competition itself, with a new board featuring team representatives formed to help shape its strategic direction.\n\nThe tournament also remains under the jurisdiction of the independent cricket regulator — established following the 2023 Equity in Cricket report, which found discrimination to be “widespread” within the English game.\n\nThe _BBC_ quoted the County Cricket Members’ Group as saying: “We expect the relevant county boards and the ECB to hold private partners accountable if there is any reason to believe the non-selection of Pakistan players was a blanket decision based on nationality.”\n\n_Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2026_",
  "title": "Alarm over Pakistanis’ exclusion from Hundred competition"
}