Sunrisers Coach SHAMELESSLY Defends Signing Pakistan's Abrar Ahmed at The Hundred Auction; Labels Him as 'Priority'

The Hundred: Sunrisers franchise is facing the heat on social space following their shock purchase of Pakistan star Abrar Ahmed at the Hundred auction. The Pakistan mystery spinner sparked a bidding war between Sunrisers and Trent Rockets as well. He was finally brought onboard for Rs 2.34 Cr by the Sunrisers. 

This was an unprecedented move as it was earlier reported that no IPL-based franchises would splash money on any Pakistan cricketer. While the move by Kaviya Maran stunned many, the head coach of SRH Daniel Vettori has finally broken silence on the reason behind the purchase. 

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'Abrar Was a Priority'

"He's unique in the amount of variations and a lot of, particularly domestic players, won't have seen him before," Vettori told BBC Sport.

Vettori said he knew about the current situation between India-Pakistan, but claimed that he was not given any instruction over not to go for a Pakistani player and hence he got him onboard.

"We came into the auction with every player available to us. As soon as this option was available there were a number of very good spinners from international teams that were an option, but Abrar was a priority," he added.

Abrar was the second Pakistan player sold during the auction after another mystery spinner Usman Tariq was bought by Birmingham Phoenix for Rs 1.72 Cr. For the unversed, Phoenix has no IPL connections. 

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Should SRH Make an U-Turn? 

Yes, of course they should. The decision taken by the Sunrisers goes against the national interest and hence the franchise is already facing a massive backlash on social space. The next few days would be interesting as talks over Abrar's future at Sunrisers would be discussed at length.