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Moeen Ali warns English cricketers may unite against discrimination if The Hundred franchises exclude Pakistani players within the auction.
Moeen Ali (L) and Shaheen Afridi.
(AFP)
Moeeni Ali has warned that a gaggle of English cricketers will take a united stand against discrimination if any of the franchises in The Hundred deliberately ignore Pakistani players within the upcoming auction.
His declaration on Monday (February 23) got here in response to reports in British media that 4 franchises, that are majorly owned by Indians with an IPL connect, won’t pick any Pakistani within the auction. The reports have claimed that these teams, MI London, Manchester Super Giants, Sunrisers Leeds and Southern Brave, will follow their parent IPL teams with an unsaid ban on Pakistanis as a result of the sour Indo-Pak relations.
“Within the UK, I’m undecided that may occur – and I hope it doesn’t occur,” Moeen told Telegraph Sport. “It just shouldn’t occur, hopefully it won’t occur. We just must wait and see if it does, but I believe it’d be an enormous shame, and I’m sure the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) will certainly keep an eye fixed out.”
Already, England white-ball captain Harry Brook and former skipper Michael Vaughan have said it might be a ‘shame’ if this comes true. But Moeen warned that more will join them in protest.
“There’ll be a gaggle of players that can speak up,” he said. “There’ll be things done about it. I believe players should speak up. Anyone that has any kind of concern for these sort of things – it doesn’t matter in the event that they have Pakistani heritage – should speak up. Obviously, the news may be very recent. So I’ve not likely had a probability to talk to anyone, but many of the players could be on the identical page. It’d be really interesting to see what happens, because I genuinely think other countries can do what they need, obviously we’re not in charge of those things, but within the UK, we’ve a bit more say about this stuff.”
The Hundred won’t be the primary franchise league to see such a shadow ban. Indian-owned sides within the SA20 and the ILT20 don’t pick any Pakistani players either.
‘It’s horrible’
Dialing the warmth further, Moeen said individuals are aware of this subject but don’t speak about it because they don’t wish to ‘get in trouble’ and hurt their careers. He said one in every of the fundamental reasons for this fear is that the identical owners, wealthy and experienced from the IPL, control leagues all over the world.
“These sort of things have been happening for ages now it’s time for an answer, since it’s not fair – it’s obviously discriminating against certain kind of people,” Moeen said. “It’s horrible. I just find it strange that nobody really talks about it an excessive amount of. Especially at the highest, nobody really mentions it. People haven’t been speaking about it in order that they don’t get in trouble.”
“It’s such a difficult one, because all these teams are in all places in every league. So now if players speak out, or in the event that they say anything, then it affects their profession. It’s a difficult position for players to be in. Once you’re an older player like myself, you don’t really care an excessive amount of,” he said.
The ECB is alleged to have written to all owners, informing them that it could take motion in the event that they were to interrupt its discrimination policy. But, like Moeen also admitted within the interview, determining discrimination from sporting strategy, wouldn’t be easy.
February 23, 2026, 23:42 IST
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