No franchise has made Pakistani players part of their team in the British cricket league ‘The Hundred’, and the possible reason for this has also been revealed. 50 Pakistani cricketers, including 5 women, were included in the players’ draft of The Hundred League 2025. No Pakistani player was selected in the draft held at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Alia Riaz, Fatima Sana, Yasra Amir, Iram Javed and Javeria Rauf were the Pakistani women’s cricketers who were not bought by any franchise. Surprisingly, none of the 45 Pakistani players included in the men’s draft were made part of their squads by the franchises, even though there were vacancies for foreign players in various teams.
The highest priced Pakistani player was Naseem Shah, whose reserve price was set at 120,000 pounds. Experienced all-rounder Imad Wasim and young batter Saim Ayub had a reserve price of 78,500 pounds. In addition, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali and Muhammad Hasnain had a reserve price of 63,000 pounds, while many other players including Muhammad Abbas, Haider Ali and Imad Butt were registered without any specific price.
Pakistani players have not been allowed to participate in the IPL since 2008. The reason why Pakistani players have not been selected in The Hundred League is not because of the influence of the IPL, but rather the uncertainty of the full availability of Pakistani players in the tournament.
The tournament will run from August 5 to August 31, during which Pakistan will play 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is against the West Indies from July 31 to August 12. Apart from this, the Green Shirts are also likely to play a white-ball series against Bangladesh during July and August, which could affect the full availability of Pakistani players for The Hundred League.
