Former English professional cricketer Azeem Rafiq, best known for exposing racism against minorities at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, has criticised Sunil Gavaskar for his comments on Sunrisers Leeds owner Kavya Maran for buying Pakistani spinner Abrar Ahmed at the 2026 Hundred auction.
Gavaskar’s attack on Sunrisers
For the unaware, Gavaskar had bashed Maran. The Indian legend claimed that Sunrisers are directly funding the killing of Indian citizens by paying £190,000 (approximately INR 2.34 crore) to the mystery spinner since the income tax that Abrar pays to the Pakistani government will be used for buying weapons, which, in turn, will be employed against Indians.
“Although belated, the realisation that the fees that they pay to a Pakistani player, who then pays income tax to his government which buys arms and weapons, indirectly contributes to the deaths of Indian soldiers and civilians is making Indian entities refrain from even considering having Pakistani artistes and sportspersons,” Gavaskar had written in a column for Mid-Day.
Rafiq questions Gavaskar’s lack of integrity
Rafiq took to X (formerly Twitter) to lash out at Gavaskar. “This is absolutely ridiculous & should be condemned. How are these comments acceptable? I don’t care how many runs you have scored. Vile stuff from Gavaskar,” he wrote.
But that isn’t all. Rafiq further questioned why Gavaskar didn’t speak up when India and Pakistan played each other 4 times, in the Asia Cup 2025 and T20 World Cup 2026, since their skirmish in May 2025. The money earned from these, which is billions of rupees, goes directly to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is currently headed by Mohsin Naqvi, who is Pakistan’s Minister of Interior and Narcotics Control.
He took a further dig at Gavaskar, mockingly asking if the Indian legend was commentating on the India vs Pakistan matches in these two events. Not only was Gavaskar behind the mic in these 4 matches, but he also shared the commentator’s box with former Pakistani cricketers Ramiz Raja and Wasim Akram in the T20 World Cup and Akram, Waqar Younis, Bazid Khan, and Urooj Mumtaz in the Asia Cup.
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