Agha, Shaheen, Usman among 63 Pakistan players to register for Hundred 2026 auction

Almost all members of Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad - including captain Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Afridi, Saim Ayub and Usman Tariq - have registered for The Hundred auction to be held in London. The auction list features 710 players, including both domestic and international cricketers from Pakistan apart from all cricket playing nations, barring Indians. Their decision to enter the March auction comes amid reports that more than half of the eight franchises may avoid bidding for Pakistani players. How many Pakistan players eventually get picked will also be subject to international commitments. As per the ICC FTP, Pakistan are scheduled to have an away Test series against West Indies in August.

With six franchises of the eight franchises - London Spirit (owned by US-based tech investors), MI Oval (Reliance Industries), Manchester SuperGiants (RPSG Group), Southern Brave (GMR Group), SunRisers Leeds (Sun TV) and Welsh Fire (US-based Sanjay Govil) - having Indian connections, widespread reports in the English media suggest that these owners will refrain from bidding for any of the 63 Pakistani players listed in the auction spreadsheet.

"Pakistan cricketers are not being considered by Indian-owned sides for next month's Hundred auction," the BBC reported, quoting sources. However, a couple of franchises that Cricbuzz spoke to remained non-committal, stating that they would look to assemble the strongest possible squads for The Hundred. The auction is scheduled to be held on March 11 and 12.

Of the six teams with Indian connections, four have direct IPL links - Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow SuperGiants and SunRisers Hyderabad - and they, along with other Indian owners, have stayed away from signing Pakistani players in overseas leagues, be it SA20 in South Africa or ILT20 in the UAE. The decision is not difficult to understand, given the diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan. Only one ILT20 franchise, Desert Vipers, currently has a Pakistani player in its roster.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which owns The Hundred League, said the teams will need to buy between 16-18 players for their men's squads, while 15 players will make up the women's squads. The overall salary pot for a season is GBP 2.05m per team. The overall salary pot in The Hundred Women's Competition will increase 100% for the 2026 season, rising to GBP 880,000 per team.

The teams are allowed up to four pre-auction signings from mid-November to the end of January. A maximum of three of these can be direct signings, and must be overseas or England centrally contracted players. A minimum of one will be a retention which can be any player - England centrally contracted, overseas or domestic.

The cumulative pre-auction deduction per team is 350k (1 signing), GBP 650k (2 players), GBP 850k (3 players), GBP 950k (4 players) - all for the men's league. In the women's competition - GBP 130k (1 signing), GBP 240k (2 players), GBP 10k (3 players), GBP 360k (4 players). These rules are largely based on the IPL auction and retention rules.

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