Sahibzada Farhan says he would jump at the chance to play in the Hundred, even though doubts remain about how many – if any – Pakistani cricketers will be signed at the March draft.
The opener, who has entered the auction at a £50,000 base price, is enjoying a purple patch. He topped last year’s Asia Cup run-scoring charts and is currently leading the way at the T20 World Cup. Form, then, is not the issue. Politics might be.
Four of the eight Hundred teams are now majority-owned by IPL franchises – MI London (Mumbai Indians), Manchester Super Giants (Lucknow), Sunrisers Leeds (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Southern Brave (Delhi Capitals). The IPL has not fielded a Pakistan player since its inaugural 2008 season, and sister teams in other leagues have tended to follow suit. When the ILT20 held its draft, the only non-Indian-owned side, Desert Vipers, snapped up several Pakistan players at base price and promptly won the tournament.
Aware of growing unease, Hundred managing director Vikram Banerjee wrote to all franchises at the weekend, reminding them that picks must be “based on merit” and warning that any sign of discrimination would lead to disciplinary action.
“It’s not in our hands who picks us and who doesn’t,” Farhan told reporters before Pakistan’s Super Eight meeting with England. “Wherever we get an opportunity and whoever is interested can pick us. We’re ready to play that league, and where people aren’t interested is [not something we focus on].”
Availability is another complication. The Hundred’s window overlaps with Pakistan’s scheduled two-Test tour of the West Indies in late July. That alone has deterred teams before. Of the nine Pakistanis who have appeared across the tournament’s first five editions, several have pulled out late – most memorably Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah in 2024 – leaving franchises wary of repeat disruptions.
Over the past year, India-Pakistan relations have deteriorated further following a brief border flare-up last May. The BBC reported last week that IPL-aligned Hundred sides “will not bid” for Pakistani players, quoting a message allegedly sent by a senior ECB official to an agent. The board says it has not seen the correspondence but is nonetheless fielding awkward questions.
“The ECB need to act fast on this,” Michael Vaughan posted on X. “They own the league and this should not be allowed to happen… The most inclusive game needs to walk the walk.”
For now, Farhan can only wait. His recent exploits suggest he would add real value in the mid-order or at the top, where his unflustered strike rotation complements a clean hitting arc. The £50,000 reserve looks reasonable in a market where proven T20 runs are increasingly expensive. Yet the decision rests with eight ownership groups, four of whom are already conditioned by a different league’s political no-go zone.
None of this has dimmed his enthusiasm. Farhan still calls the Hundred “one of the best leagues” and speaks openly of testing himself in English conditions. Whether the draft room politics, the international calendar or a straight cricketing judgement ultimately decides his fate, the 29-year-old seems content to let the chips fall. What happens next could set the tone for how the Hundred – and English cricket more broadly – balances commercial reality with its stated commitment to inclusivity.
