Former Pakistan head coach Azhar Mahmood has stepped out to highlight his experience of being denied a coaching contract by the Indian owners of the CPL franchise, who did not want a coach with Pakistani ancestry. He warned that the same thing can happen with the players and the ECB should take adequate steps to prevent this from happening.
Pakistan and players who are from the country or have their roots in the country have all been called together for a common interest, as they come together to fight against a system where IPL-based owners often sideline players of Pakistani origin in many global franchise leagues around the world.
Investors in the game largely belong to India, and now there is speculation the same will happen in The Hundred. The Hundred passed into private ownership, and teams liked MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Super Giants and Southern Brave are all at least partially owned by IPL franchises.
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Azhar Mahmood recalled the abuse faced by the Indian-owned CPL franchise, saying, “We cannot have any Pakistani coach or player in our team.”
Speaking on the same matter on Wisden Cricket Weekly, former Pakistan head coach, Azhar Mahmood had revealed that he had the experience of losing the coaching role for a CPL franchise due to his Pakistani ancestry.
“This happened four years ago right after Covid when the CPL was happening,” Mahmood said. “I was asked to coach at a franchise and later I found out because of my Pakistani background they said we couldn’t have any Pakistani coach or player in our team.”
However, he did not reveal which team it was and whether they had Indian owners. Azhar Mahmood is a former Pakistani cricketer who played for them between 1996 and 2007 and was a part of 164 international matches during this period.
“Everything is connected to the IPL ecosystem.” -Azhar Mehmood
Azhar Mahmood, in addition to playing for his country, also played in the County Championship for Surrey between 2002 and 2007, and spent another stint with them between 2013 and 2016; However, this time as a local player. In 2011, he gained British citizenship, making him an eligible player domestically.
After a long time, he returned as Pakistan’s bowling coach in 2016 and served until 2019, when his contract was not renewed after his previous contract expired. He took over as head coach of Pakistan for a brief stint after Jason Gillespie left the full-time role mid-2025.
Azhar Mahmood said, “This is not an ideal situation for me.” “I’m an English-qualified coach and I was coaching Surrey county cricket and then I went back to Pakistan for the last two years, and now because I was part of the Pakistan setup for the last two years, it’s quite difficult to find roles now.”
He also said that everything is linked to the IPL ecosystem, and almost every league has franchises owned by IPL team owners, like SA20 and MLC. He concluded, “As a coach I find it difficult to be involved in teams that are owned by IPL and Indian owners. It is tough. The same applies for players as well.”
Mahmood asks ECB to take action against any such shadow in The Hundred
With the latest reports of Indian owners taking over four of the eight teams in The Hundred, a similar situation has been predicted where players of Pakistani origin could have an impact on these teams.
Therefore, he has requested the England and Wales Cricket Board to look into such matters and deal with them carefully.
“There are a lot of Pakistani communities in England,” Mahmood said. “There is a very good relationship between the England Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board and you can see that the people of England coming from Pakistan are crazy about cricket. Hopefully the ECB will take action on those things.”
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