The issue could be a factor during next month’s player auction for English cricket’s Hundred, a 100 balls-per-side competition featuring eight franchises rather than the traditional 18 first-class counties.
BBC Sport and The Telegraph have reported that with four of the eight franchises in the upcoming tournament owned by companies that control teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), it is “an unwritten rule” that Pakistani players would not be considered for those team.
According to the BBC, a senior ECB official indicated to an agent that interest in his Pakistan players would be limited to sides not linked to the IPL.
Vaughan, referencing the ECB’s stated aim of cricket becoming the most inclusive sport in the country, posted on Friday on X: “The ECB need to act fast on this … they own the league, and this should not be allowed to happen … The most inclusive sport in the country is not
Longstanding political tensions between India and Pakistan have led to the rivals only playing each other in international cricket events, although their recent Colombo showdown at the ongoing T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka only went ahead after Pakistan called off a boycott.
Politics has also led to an effective ban on Pakistani players participating in the Indian Premier League, world cricket’s most lucrative T20 franchise competition.
And with several IPL owners now owning teams in several different countries, opportunities for Pakistani cricketers to participate in various leagues are in danger of being reduced further.
Players will go under the hammer in London on March 11-12, with the BBC reporting that the four Indian-affiliated Hundred teams — Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds — will deliberately avoid selecting players from Pakistan.
Two Pakistani international players — Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim — appeared in last year’s Hundred tournament, which was the final edition before new investors took control.
Others — including Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf — featured in earlier seasons of the men’s competition. No Pakistan players have appeared in the women’s Hundred.
The BBC highlighted the exclusion of Pakistan players in what it called “a growing trend in franchise cricket”.
No Pakistanis have featured in South Africa’s SA20, which launched in 2023. All six of its teams are owned by IPL franchise groups — including the four now involved in The Hundred.
In the UAE’s ILT20, franchises controlled by the owners of MI London and Southern Brave have not signed a Pakistan player across four seasons, but have recruited cricketers from 15 other nationalities.
By contrast, American-owned ILT20 side Desert Vipers have signed eight Pakistan players over the same period.
Commenting on the development, BBC cricket pundit Aatif Nawaz said “There is no merit-based reason for Pakistani players to be excluded from any franchise T20 competition”.
“Call it what it really is: systemic isolation,” he wrote on X.
According to the BBC, the ECB sold its 49pc stakes in each of the eight Hundred franchises last year — raising £500m in private investment that has since been distributed to counties and the grassroots game.
The ECB retains control of the competition itself, with a new board featuring team representatives formed to help shape its strategic direction.
The tournament also remains under the jurisdiction of the independent cricket regulator — established following the 2023 Equity in Cricket report, which found discrimination to be “widespread” within the English game.
The BBC quoted the County Cricket Members’ Group as saying: “We expect the relevant county boards and the ECB to hold private partners accountable if there is any reason to believe the non-selection of Pakistan players was a blanket decision based on nationality.”