Welsh Fire men's and women's sides both finished bottom of The Hundred in 2025. Welsh Fire co-owner Sanjay Govil has told BBC Sport Wales he "won't discriminate against anybody" and wants to "select the best team" at the Hundred auction in a few weeks time.

Last week, BBC Sport reported that Pakistan cricketers are not being considered by the four Indian-owned sides for next month's Hundred auction. Pakistan players do not play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) amid ongoing political tensions between the two countries, and that trend is reflected at IPL-owned franchises around the world.

Since then, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has written to the eight Hundred franchises reminding them of their responsibilities around discrimination. Fire were one of four teams not bought by IPL owners during the sales of The Hundred franchises last year, alongside Trent Rockets, London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix.

Govil, owner of Major League Cricket franchise Washington Freedom, paid £40m for a 50% stake in Welsh Fire. The Indian-American IT entrepreneur says his focus is on building the best squad possible.

"We are going to select the best team we can, there are going to be Pakistani players in the draft so we just have to look at our needs because the number of international players we can sign is very limited," said Govil.

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Fire have made four pre-auction direct signings, Phil Salt, Chris Woakes, Marco Jansen and Rachin Ravindra with the latter pair taking up two overseas slots.

"You only have four international players who can play. So two, we already have in Marco and Rachin. I have to look at all those things but I'm not going to get boxed by Pakistani or South Africans or this or that," Govil told BBC Sport Wales.

"I'm just going to choose the best team which is possible and that's the instruction which I have given to my team when they go for the auction. I'm not going to discriminate against anybody but I'm going to choose the best players."

Welsh Fire men have had Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf play for them in previous years, with both players signed up for next month's auction.

ECB chief executive Richard Gould said last year he expected "players from all nations to be selected for all teams" in The Hundred and warned "clear anti-discrimination policies" were in place.