The World Championship of Legends (WCL) match between India and Pakistan, which was scheduled for Sunday, 20 July 2025, in Birmingham, has been cancelled. The cancellation followed after several Indian players, including Shikhar Dhawan, declined to take part in the match.
This is the second season of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) tournament, which is co-owned by one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Ajay Devgn. The tournament began on 18 July, with the final set to be played on 2 August.
2011 World Cup Player of the Tournament Yuvraj Singh is captaining the India Champions, a team that features big names such as Harbhajan Singh, Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, and Irfan Pathan, among others.
The WCL organisers issued a statement on X regarding the cancellation, stating that their intention in scheduling the match was to recreate some joyful 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 statement read.
“Hence, we have decided to call off the India-Pakistan match. We sincerely apologise again for hurting sentiments and hope people will understand that all we ever wanted was to bring a few happy moments to the fans,” it continued.
Dhawan also shared a statement on X, reiterating the stance he had taken on 11 May, confirming he would not take part in any 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,” the statement read.
Harbhajan Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, along with Yusuf Pathan who is also a MP and Irfan Pathan, have also decided to boycott the match.
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