England’s new 100-ball league finds itself at a crossroads of sport and geopolitics, according to reports that suggest four Indian-owned franchises in The Hundred would deliberately avoid drafting Pakistani players. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan publicly demanded that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) investigate, lamenting that “the most inclusive sport in the country is not one that allows this to happen”. More than 50 Pakistanis had entered the Hundred auction, yet in whispers, it appears those players might be frozen out purely on nationality. The ECB has officially denied evidence of any ban, pointing out that The Hundred “welcomes men’s and women’s players from all over the world” and noting that over 1,000 cricketers from 18 countries – including more than 50 from Pakistan – have registered.
This is not an isolated incident but part of a clear pattern. In fact, no Pakistani has played in the Indian Premier League since its very first season. The same dynamic has played out overseas. The new SA20 league in South Africa (all six teams owned by IPL franchise groups) fielded zero Pakistanis in its first three seasons. The UAE’s ILT20 likewise has no Pakistanis after four seasons, since the two UAE teams were bought by IPL owners.
That owners are treating cross-border politics as if it were part of their business model cannot be condemned enough.
The hyper-politicisation of franchise sports places Pakistanis in a strange limbo. The ECB and domestic franchises have a choice: either clamp down on this informal boycott, or admit they have no power to stop it.
Pakistan has trodden this path before. In the 1990s and 2000s, Pakistan’s team could meet India only in multilateral events, and every diplomatic flare-up meant cricket ties were severed. Today’s situation is a subtler form of the same divide–a ban not by government fiat but by franchise owners’ convenience.
The issue also raises broader questions about fairness and prejudice. Would such a rule be tolerated if it targeted any other country’s players? If Pakistani investors bought any Hundred franchise, would they sign Indian players, or would politics cut both ways? Those slippery slopes hint at how ownership and nationality can warp “free market” ideals in sport.
Pakistan’s players and officials should make a clear stand as well. In Britain, equality law even covers discrimination in employment and thus, one wonders if the ECB might face legal scrutiny if franchises collude on nationality.
Indians and others who cherish the sport should also ask why their teams shun top competitors from a historic rival. Allowing this unwritten rule to stand will only harden prejudices. The onus is on cricket’s custodians (on both sides of the border) to ensure merit, not politics, decides who takes the field. *