ECB pushes back on Pakistan's "shadow ban" reports ahead of Hundred auction

Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Harris Rauf are among more than 950 players to have registered for the Hundred’s first auctions next month as the ECB investigates whether new Indian investors will bring about an IPL-style ‘shadow ban’ on Pakistani players.

No active Pakistan international has appeared in the IPL since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, and only a handful of players have appeared for foreign franchises run by IPL ownership groups since their global expansion.

But the BBC reported on Thursday that none of the 100 IPL-owned teams would bid for Pakistani players in the auctions next month, citing messages from a “senior official” at the ECB to an agent. The ECB say they were not shown the messages in question and pushed back against the story, but Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, urged the board to address the issue more proactively.

“The ECB needs to act quickly on this,” Vaughan wrote on X. “They own the league and this should not be allowed to happen.. the most inclusive sport in the country is not one to allow this to happen.”

ESPNcricinfo has learned that more than 50 Pakistani players – including Afridi, Shadab, Rauf, Saim Ayub and Usman Tariq – have registered for next month’s draft, which will be held on March 11 (women) and 12 (men) in Piccadilly, London.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are notable absences from the long list of nominated players, although in any case their availability will be significantly limited by Pakistan’s scheduled Test series against the West Indies in August. Pakistan’s limited-overs teams will not play in the Hundred’s window from July 21 to August 16.

Four IPL franchises are now involved in the Hundred as co-owners or full owners: Mumbai Indians (MI London), Lucknow Super Giants (Manchester Super Giants), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Sunrisers Leeds) and Delhi Capitals (Southern Brave).

Teams managed by Capitals co-owners and Southern Brave owners GMR Group have previously signed Pakistani players including Imad Wasim, Zaman Khan (both Seattle Orcas) and Shan Masood (Hampshire). The other three franchises have not previously signed active Pakistani internationals for any of their teams.

Geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan escalated last year, and the recent group stage match between the two teams at the T20 World Cup was almost canceled after the Pakistani government threatened to boycott the match.

An ECB spokesman said: “The Hundred welcomes men’s and women’s players from around the world and we would expect the eight teams to reflect that.

“Nearly 1,000 cricketers from 18 nations have registered for The Hundred auction, with representation on the longlist of more than 50 players from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies respectively.”

Franchises without IPL investors could see a potential ‘shadow ban’ as an opportunity to sign Pakistani players at next month’s auctions. The American-owned Desert Vipers picked four Pakistanis who won the ILT20 final earlier this year and were the only team in the tournament to pick Pakistani players.

James Thomas, Birmingham Phoenix’s performance director, told ESPNcricinfo that the franchise would be “really open” to signing overseas players, regardless of nationality.

“Birmingham is a very diverse city,” Thomas said. “You have to pick players for what they can bring in terms of performance, but if you look at the bigger picture… We want our teams to be representative of the city and the region as well. If we’re aligned, and we get players that speak to the different demographics of the city, that’s brilliant.”

The long list of players for the Hundred auctions includes several high-profile England players such as Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Joe Root (men) and Tammy Beaumont, Dani Gibson, Linsey Smith (women). Ben Stokes is a notable absence as he takes his workload down outside of his obligations as Test captain.

Sophie Devine, Beth Mooney and Deepti Sharma are among the overseas players available in the women’s auction, while Trent Boult, Aiden Markram and Sunil Narine have registered for the men. Most of Australia’s men’s Test players have not registered due to a clash with their home series against Bangladesh in August. The complete lists of registered players are available on the Hunderd’s website.

The auctions – which will be broadcast live and broadcast on Sky Sports – will both begin with a marquee of ‘hero’ players based on nominations submitted by the eight franchises. Every team already has made up to four pre-auction signingswith new investment in the Hundred causing a “reset” among the teams.

Salary caps in the Hundred have risen sharply by 2026 to £2.05 million (men) and £880,000 (women). Each team will also be allowed to field four overseas players per game, an increase from three in previous seasons.

Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98