WCL cancels India-Pakistan legends match after Harbhajan, Dhawan, Yusuf and others refuse to play

A veterans’ cricket match involving India and Pakistan within the World Championship of Legends in Birmingham on Sunday (July 20, 2025) has been cancelled after Indian gamers, together with Shikhar Dhawan, refused to be part of it citing the Pahalgam terror assault in April.

The second version of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) match, which is co-owned by Bollywood star Ajay Devgn, began on June 18 at Edgbaston right here and is scheduled for an August 2 ultimate.

World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh is the captain of the India Champions, whereas the squad additionally options the likes of Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Varun Aaron amongst others.

The WCL organisers shared a press release on their X account, detailing the choice of cancellation and mentioned their intention whereas conducting the match was to recreate some “happy memories.” “After hearing the news that the Pakistan hockey team will be coming to India this year, and seeing the recent India vs Pakistan volleyball match along with a few other fixtures between the two nations in different sports, we thought of continuing with the India vs Pakistan match at WCL, just to create some happy memories for people around the globe.

“But maybe in the process, we ended up hurting the feelings of many and stirring emotions,” the WCL assertion learn.

The Pakistan crew has in its ranks captain Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Kamran Akmal amongst a bunch of yesteryear gamers.

The organisers additionally apologised for “unintentionally causing discomfort” to Indian legends.

“Hence, we have decided to call off the India-Pakistan match. We sincerely apologise again for hurting the sentiments and hope people will understand that all we ever wanted was to bring a few happy moments to the fans,” it learn.

Former India opener Dhawan additionally shared a press release on X, asserting his stand not to take part within the match towards Pakistan.

“This is to formally reiterate and confirm that Mr. Shikhar Dhawan will not be participating in any matches against the Pakistan team in the upcoming WCL League. This decision was communicated earlier during our discussion on call and WhatsApp dated 11th May 2025,” learn his assertion.

Dhawan made it clear that he has taken the decision in view of the present “geopolitical” scenario between India and Pakistan within the aftermath of Pahalgam terror assault and the following Operation Sindoor carried out by the nation.

Operation Sindoor had led to a short navy showdown between the 2 arch foes earlier than India agreed to halt its operations on Pakistan’s request for a stop fireplace. “In view of the current geopolitical situation and the prevailing tensions between India and Pakistan, Mr. Dhawan and his team have taken this position after due consideration.

“We respectfully request the league’s understanding and cooperation on this matter,” he mentioned within the assertion.

Off-spin legend Harbhajan, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, Yusuf, who can be a Member of Parliament, and Irfan too have conveyed their determination to boycott the match towards Pakistan, although they’re but to problem a press release on this regard.

The gamers obtained quite a lot of flak on social media for agreeing to play towards the Pakistan crew.

India had defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets to win the inaugural version of the six-team legends match final yr in Edgbaston.

While India doesn’t have interaction with Pakistan in any bilateral sporting actions due to the present geopolitical state of affairs, the 2 nations usually meet one another at varied ranges of competitions that includes Olympic sports activities.

In reality, the Indian authorities has given its approval for Pakistan’s participation in a number of main occasions to be hosted in India this yr, together with the Hockey Asia Cup (August), Junior Hockey World Cup (November–December), Junior Shooting World Cup (September), and the World Para Athletics Championships (October).

The purpose being that any transfer to block Pakistan, within the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror assault that killed 26 vacationers, would have been a violation of the Olympic constitution, which is sort of a structure for the Olympic Movement.

Rule 44 of the Charter particularly prohibits National Olympic Committees from excluding athletes based mostly on “racial, religious or political reasons”. Failure to grant visas can lead to “international isolation and loss of hosting rights for future events.” In cricket, India and Pakistan don’t have interaction in bilateral sequence, limiting their face-offs to world ICC occasions such because the World Cup and Champions Trophy.

A hybrid internet hosting mannequin was launched throughout this yr’s Champions Trophy, below which India performed its matches at a impartial venue — Dubai — whereas the remainder of the match was held in Pakistan.

Following that precedent, Pakistan will play all its matches in Colombo throughout the Women’s ODI World Cup this yr. The match is being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

However, the boys’s Asia Cup, tentatively set for September within the T20 format, stays in uncertainty as venue for the India-Pakistan conflict is but to be recognized.

The BCCI has mentioned unequivocally that it’s going to not attend the Asian Cricket Council assembly, meant to thrash out a working mannequin, whether it is held in Dhaka.

Published – July 20, 2025 09:01 am IST