“Call Me”: Lalit Modi Offers ‘Assistance in Managing Optics’ After Kavya Maran-Owned SunRisers Leeds Make INR 2.34 Cr Bid For Abrar Ahmed at The Hundred Auction

The Sunrisers Leeds co-owned by Kavya Maran has been facing a lot of backlash after getting Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed in the side. The Leeds franchise got him at a sum of around INR 2.34 Cr in The Hundred auction. While Kavya Maran and the Sunrisers face backlash, former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi offered his assistance in “managing optics.”

“Investing Rs 2.34 crore in a Pakistani player when fans are already on edge? I know a thing or two about managing optics and building empires. Call me,” Modi wrote on X.

What if The Controversy?

Kavya Maran-owned Sunrisers Leeds bought Abrar and also tried to get Usman Tariq in The Hundred auction. It was earlier reported by BBC that the owners who have teams in the IPL will not be picking Pakistan players in their squads. Four out these eight franchises at the Hundred — MI London, SunRisers Leeds, Southern Brave, Manchester Super Giants — are owned by groups that also own IPL teams.

But this theory went for a toss after Kavya Maran’s franchise out the paddle up for the Pakistan players. 

Sunil Gavaskar Comments on The Controversy

Sunil Gavaskar criticised the move, arguing that paying a Pakistani cricketer could be seen as indirectly contributing to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians. “The furore created by the acquisition of a Pakistani player by the Indian owner of a franchise in The Hundred is hardly surprising. Ever since the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, Indian franchise owners have simply ignored Pakistani players for the IPL. Although belated, the realisation that the fees that they pay to a Pakistani player, who then pays income tax to his government which buys arms and weapons, indirectly contributes to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians is making Indian entities refrain from even considering having Pakistani artistes and sportspersons,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.

BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla’s Take

BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said that what the Sunrisers franchise does outside IPL in their concern. “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 up to them. It’s purely up to the franchise that has 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 told news agency ANI.

Also Read: Abrar Ahmed Ignores Sunil Gavaskar-Led Indian Backlash After Kavya Maran’s Sunrisers Leeds Ropes In PAK Spiner For The Hundred