The Sunrisers Leeds incident at The Hundred auction, where Kavya Maran went on to buy Pakistani Abrar Ahmed, seems to be at the forefront of all cricketing discussions. While there is a bit of negative sentiment in the country surrounding that, the BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has category clarified, that this issue is not in their domain.

But now, there could be another roadblock in Abrar’s participation at The Hundred. The youngster may not receive the NOC from the PCB, since the Pakistani team is scheduled to tour West Indies during The Hundred. The PAK vs WI two-match Test series starts on July 15 and ends on August 7.

Meanwhile, the Hundred will start on July 21 and will run till August 16. “He might not play The Hundred, given the fact that Pakistan is playing a two match Test series against West Indies,” a source told the Times of India. Even though Abrar is the not the first choice spinner for PAK in Tests, but his services might still be needed, and moreover, and NOC from Mohsin Naqvi is of utmost importance.

On the flipside, there are a few who feel, due to the money involved, the spinner might get the NOC. “It is a lot of money. His agent has put his name in the auction, which means he is confident of getting the NOC. He is also among the few current Pakistani cricketers who have a good relationship with the PCB chief. The chances of him playing in The Hundred are 50-50,” said a PCB source.

Meanwhile, Daniel Vettori explained the logic behind getting Abrar. “Once we missed out on Adil Rashid, who was a priority early on, we obviously jumped into the overseas spinner category. There were four or five players we were looking at and Abrar was one of them. We are very pleased to get him.”