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

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

The second edition of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) tournament, which is co-owned by Bollywood star Ajay Devgn, started on June 18 at Edgbaston here and is scheduled for an August 2 final.

World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh is the captain of the India Champions, while the squad also features the likes of Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Varun Aaron among others.

The WCL organisers shared a statement on their X account, detailing the decision of cancellation and said their intention while 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 statement read.

The Pakistan team has in its ranks captain Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Kamran Akmal among a host of yesteryear players.

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

Dear all , pic.twitter.com/ViIlA3ZrLl — World Championship Of Legends (@WclLeague) July 19, 2025

“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 read.

Former India opener Dhawan also shared a statement on X, announcing his stand not to participate in the match against 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,” read his statement.

Dhawan made it clear that he has taken the call in view of the current “geopolitical” situation between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack and the ensuing Operation Sindoor carried out by the country.

Operation Sindoor had led to a brief military showdown between the two arch foes before India agreed to halt its operations on Pakistan’s request for a cease fire. “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 said in the statement.

Off-spin legend Harbhajan, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, Yusuf, who is also a Member of Parliament, and Irfan too have conveyed their decision to boycott the match against Pakistan, though they are yet to issue a statement in this regard.

The players received a lot of flak on social media for agreeing to play against the Pakistan team.

India had defeated Pakistan by five wickets to win the inaugural edition of the six-team legends tournament last year in Edgbaston.

While India does not engage with Pakistan in any bilateral sporting activities because of the existing geopolitical scenario, the two nations often meet each other at various levels of competitions featuring Olympic sports.

In fact, the Indian government has given its approval for Pakistan’s participation in several major events to be hosted in India this year, including the Hockey Asia Cup (August), Junior Hockey World Cup (November–December), Junior Shooting World Cup (September), and the World Para Athletics Championships (October).

The reason being that any move to block Pakistan, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 tourists, would have been a violation of the Olympic charter, which is like a constitution for the Olympic Movement.

Rule 44 of the Charter specifically prohibits National Olympic Committees from excluding athletes based 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 do not engage in bilateral series, limiting their face-offs to global ICC events such as the World Cup and Champions Trophy.

A hybrid hosting model was introduced during this year’s Champions Trophy, under which India played its matches at a neutral venue — Dubai — while the rest of the tournament was held in Pakistan.

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

However, the men’s Asia Cup, tentatively set for September in the T20 format, remains in uncertainty as venue for the India-Pakistan clash is yet to be identified.

The BCCI has said unequivocally that it will not attend the Asian Cricket Council meeting, intended to thrash out a working model, if it is held in Dhaka.

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