RCB coaches & Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf (Source: X)
The Hundred Men 2026 auction is all set to get underway at 10 AM GMT, which is 3.30 PM IST. Originally, there were 14 Pakistan players who were supposed to go under the hammer, with four IPL-owned teams, as well as others, ready to raise their paddles.
Among them, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq were supposed to be the major highlights in The Hundred 2026 auction. While Shaheen Afridi opted out of the The Hundred auction in the 11th hour, the others are still there up for grabs.
Will IPL-Owned Teams Buy Pakistan Players For The Hundred?
The four IPL teams that own The Hundred franchises are Sunrisers Leeds (owned by SRH’s Sun Group), Manchester Super Giants (owned by LSG’s RPSG Group), Southern Brave (owned by Delhi Capitals’ GMR Group) and the Oval Invincibles, now known as MI London (owned by MI’s Reliance Group).
Adi Birrell, the head coach of the Sunrisers Leeds women and Jonathan Batty, Southern Brave head coach for the women’s division, gave their comments on the most-talked-about subject at the moment, which is whether IPL-owned teams will sign any Pakistan players for The Hundred.
Both of them clearly mentioned that they did not get any instructions from their management regarding this subject.
"No, I haven't. "I'm sure there will be some interest in some players tomorrow. I think so (for interests in Pakistan players), but I don't know. I presume so. I haven't heard that they won't bid for them," Adi Birrell told BBC Sport.
Also Read: List Of All Indian Teams In T20 Leagues
"The only thing I've been told is 'sign the best players to make this the best squad you possibly can.' We've had no other instructions than that and we've had total autonomy on who we sign. That's how it's been with the women's team," Jonathan Batty said.
RCB-Heavy Hundred Team Opens Up On Pakistan Players
Even though RCB, the IPL 2025 champions, did not have a team in The Hundred, their coaching staff and the London Spirit coaching staff are not very different. Andy Flower is the head coach of both teams, while Dinesh Karthik serves as their batting coach and mentor.
Mo Bobat, who works as the director of cricket for RCB, has the same role in London Spirit as well.
Speaking on signing Pakistan players, Mo Bobat said: "There are hundreds of overseas players that have registered for the auction and there are only 16 overseas slots, so there are going to be a lot of disappointed overseas players."
"It's difficult to predict what will happen. The nature of an auction is there's loads of uncertainty, there's loads of jeopardy - there are no guarantees. We're considering all players from everywhere because we want to be as strong as possible," he added.
The Hundred 2026 will get underway on July 21 and will finish on August 16.
Also Read: The Hundred Women 2026 Auction: Full List Of Sold, Unsold, Retained Players, Top Buys
