After the sale of a minority stake in all eight franchises of the Hundred, ECB chief executive Richard Gould has assured there will be no barring of Pakistan's players from the competition.
Several of these stakes have gone to owners of IPL franchises like Lucknow Super Giants (RPSG Group), Mumbai Indians (Reliance Industries Limited), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Sun TV Network Limited), and Delhi Capitals (co-owned by GMR Group), potentially raising concerns over whether the participation of Pakistan's players in the competition will be limited.
ECB chief rebuffs changes in the makeup of squads
Although there is no official policy from the BCCI, IPL teams have adhered to not signing Pakistani players since the second season of the league in 2009, due to the well-publicised fraying dimplomatic relations between India and Pakistan.
In addition, the SA20, where all six teams are at least partly owned by the Indian Premier League franchises has seen no Pakistani participation so far in its three seasons.
Imad Wasim has represented the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20 and the duo of Zaman Khan and Imad have also appeared for Seattle Orcas in Major League Cricket, a team co-owned by the GMR Group. Shadab Khan has also turned out for Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League. However, all these cases are from leagues where less than half of the teams share ownership with IPL franchises.
ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould has rejected the possibility of Pakistani players being restricted from taking part in The Hundred, saying, “We're aware of that in other regions, but that won't be happening here."
Could Indian players feature in The Hundred?
With many IPL franchises putting large amounts of money into the league, some fans are expecting that the Indian players will turn out in the men's Hundred to increase the appeal of the league and help it get a separate window during the cricketing calendar after clashing with Major League Cricket and the Caribbean Premier League over the last couple of seasons. Indian players do play in the Women's Hundred, as well as the Women's Big Bash League and Women's Caribbean Premier League.
Also read: Mohammad Rizwan: Pakistan's cricketing unpredictability down to 'cultural problems'
But Gould clarified that such a proposition seems unlikely while he expects the viewership of the league to rocket in some countries across the world after huge investments.
He said, “In terms of availability to Indian players, that is not priced in with our plans. The BCCI's position has been very clear. At some point, we'd love to see Indian players come and play in England. We currently see them obviously in bilaterals and actually quite a lot in county cricket. But that's not something that we have predetermined through this process."
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