Azhar Mahmood has urged the ECB to act to prevent Pakistani players being 'shadow-banned' from The Hundred, following his own experience of losing coaching opportunities with IPL-owned franchises.
Azhar Mahmood: They said we can't have any Pakistani coach or player in our side
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Mahmood revealed his experience of of losing a coaching opportunity in the CPL. "It happened four years ago straight away after Covid when the CPL was happening," said Mahmood. "I was asked to coach in one of the franchises and later on I found out because my background as a Pakistani they said we can't have any Pakistani coach or player in our side."
Mahmood played 164 international matches for Pakistan between 1996 and 2007, 21 of which were Test matches. He played county cricket for Surrey from 2002 to 2007, and for another stint from 2013 to 2016. He also played for Kent between 2008 and 2012. Mahmood became a British citizen in 2011, which allowed him to play county cricket as a domestically qualified player.
In 2016, Mahmood became the Pakistan men's bowling coach. He stayed in the role for three years until his contract wasn't renewed in 2019. In 2024, he was appointed as Pakistan's head coach for their T20I series in New Zealand, and stood in as acting head coach after Jason Gillespie left the full-time role in 2025. In addition to his national coaching role, Mahmood has also had several stints as a bowling coach in the PSL.
"It's not the ideal situation for me," said Mahmood. "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 set-up for the last two years, finding roles now is quite difficult. Everything is connected to the ecosystem of the IPL. They have four or five franchise leagues, SA20, MLC – as a coach I find it tough to get into those teams which are owned by IPL and Indian owners. It's difficult. The same thing goes for the players as well."
Reported emerged last week that IPL-owned Hundred teams would not consider Pakistani players in the upcoming auction for the competition. MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Super Giants and Southern Brave are all under at least partial ownership by IPL franchises.
"There are a lot of Pakistani communities in England," said Mahmood. "There is a great relationship between the England Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board, and you can see the people of England are crazy about cricket, coming from Pakistan. Hopefully the ECB will act on those things."
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