Reports from BBC and The Telegraph suggest that franchises with Indian ownership are unlikely to consider Pakistani cricketers in the upcoming season of England’s Hundred competition. The claims have prompted concern from former England captain Michael Vaughan, who has called on the England and Wales Cricket Board to intervene quickly.
The issue is expected to surface during next month’s player draft for The Hundred, England’s short-format tournament featuring eight city-based teams. According to the reports, four franchises linked to owners of Indian Premier League teams are believed to follow an informal practice of not selecting Pakistani players.
The BBC reported that an ECB official privately indicated to a player agent that Pakistani cricketers would only attract interest from teams without IPL connections. Vaughan reacted publicly on X, arguing that such an approach contradicts the ECB’s stated commitment to inclusivity and stressing that the board, as the competition’s owner, should prevent this from happening.
So far, the Pakistan Cricket Board has not issued an official response.
Politics overshadowing cricket
Political tensions between India and Pakistan have long limited cricketing ties, with the two sides mainly facing each other in global tournaments. Pakistani players have also been effectively absent from the Indian Premier League, the world’s most lucrative franchise competition.
As IPL ownership groups expand into leagues across multiple countries, opportunities for Pakistani players appear to be shrinking further. The BBC claims that four Indian-affiliated Hundred teams — Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave, and Sunrisers Leeds — are expected to avoid signing Pakistan players in the upcoming auction in London on March 11–12.
Despite this, Pakistani internationals such as Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim featured in last year’s tournament, while players including Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, and Haris Rauf took part in earlier editions. No Pakistani cricketer has yet appeared in the women’s competition.
Growing concerns over exclusion
The BBC described the situation as part of a wider pattern in global franchise cricket. No Pakistani players have participated in South Africa’s SA20 since its launch in 2023, where all teams are owned by IPL groups. Similarly, certain franchises in the UAE’s ILT20 have not signed a single Pakistani player despite recruiting talent from numerous other countries.
BBC analyst Aatif Nawaz criticized the trend, stating there is no performance-based justification for excluding Pakistani cricketers and describing the situation as “systemic isolation.”
Last year, the ECB sold 49 percent stakes in all eight Hundred teams, raising around £500 million in private investment. While the ECB continues to oversee the competition, it now operates alongside a new board involving franchise representatives and remains subject to the independent cricket regulator established after the 2023 Equity in Cricket report.
The BBC also quoted the County Cricket Members’ Group, which said county boards and the ECB should hold investors accountable if any player exclusions are found to be based solely on nationality.