A cricket match between Indian and Pakistani veteran players \u2014 part of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) \u2014 was called off after Indian players, including Shikhar Dhawan, refused to play against Pakistan, citing recent \u201cgeopolitical tensions\u201d between the two nations, according to a statement issued by WCL on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The WCL is an international cricket league where retired, non-contracted international players return to competitive T20 cricket, according to the league\u2019s website.<\/a> The tournament commenced on July 18 and is being held in Birmingham, England.<\/p>\n In a statement posted on X, WCL organisers announced that, \u201cWe have decided to call off the India vs Pakistan match,\u201d saying that the match between the two countries was planned in light of recent positive development between India and Pakistan, indicating improved bilateral sporting ties.<\/p>\n The statement cited a recent volleyball match<\/a> between the rival nations and speculations around Pakistan\u2019s hockey team touring India later this year.<\/p>\n On Friday, Pakistan beat India 3-0 in the Asian Men\u2019s U-16 Volleyball Championship semi-final being held in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported<\/a> that Pakistan is to review the security situation in India before taking a call on sending its hockey teams to the neighbouring country for the Asia Cup and Junior World Cup to be held later this year.<\/p>\n The decision to cancel the WCL match came after former Indian players, including veteran cricketer Shikhar Dhawan, refused<\/a> to play against Pakistan. Dhawan posted a statement on his X account, showing a screenshot of an email sent to notify of his withdrawal from the match.<\/p>\n One of the sponsors of the tournament, an Indian travel company, also said in a statement<\/a> posted on X that it \u201cwill not be associated with or participate in any WCL match involving Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n The league\u2019s statement cited the \u201ccurrent geopolitical situation and prevailing tensions between India and Pakistan\u201d as the reasons for withdrawal.<\/p>\n WCL, in its statement, apologised for \u201churting\u201d people\u2019s sentiments and causing discomfort to Indian players for WCL\u2019s decision to hold the match in the first place.<\/p>\n The match \u2014 scheduled for Sunday (today) \u2014 was to be the first between the two nations in the tournament. The Pakistani team is being led by Mohammed Hafeez, while Yuvraj Singh is leading the Indian side.<\/p>\n According to WCL\u2019s website, the tournament is set to run until August 2 with participation from England, India, Pakistan, Australia, the West Indies and South Africa.<\/p>\n WCL will be held across four English cities \u2014 Birmingham, Northampton, Leeds and Leicester.<\/p>\n Reacting to the development, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman condemned the cancellation: \u201cIndian cricketers, following in [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi\u2019s footsteps by refusing to play against Pakistan, have turned sports into hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDefeat on the battlefield, failure in diplomacy, and now fleeing from sports, India faces embarrassment on every front,\u201d Rehman, who was part of a delegation that conveyed Pakistan\u2019s stance on the recent conflict with India, said in a post<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hate-filled and prejudiced behaviour of Indian players reflects their Modi-worshipping mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSports are ambassadors of peace, tolerance, and mutual respect, but India has demonstrated narrow-mindedness here as well. The Modi government shudders at the mere mention of Pakistan, and their players choose to flee the field,\u201d Rehman quipped.<\/p>\n She stressed that Indians\u2019 \u201chate-driven agenda rather than sportsmanship poses a threat to regional peace and the spirit of sports\u201d.<\/p>\n In May, Pakistan and India stepped back from an all-out war after a four-day military confrontation<\/a> \u2014 the worst in decades \u2014 in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam attack <\/a> in India-occupied Kashmir. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the attack without evidence, launching Operation Sindoor<\/a>. Islamabad has strongly denied the accusations.<\/p>\n During the conflict, India\u2019s head coach Gautam Gambhir had called for a complete halt<\/a> to cricketing engagements with Pakistan at any forum.<\/p>\n The recent tensions also briefly cast a shadow<\/a> on this year\u2019s Asia Cup, with speculation that India would pull out of the Asia Cup. However, the two teams are expected<\/a> to face each other in the tournament in September this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cricket match between Indian and Pakistani veteran players \u2014 part of the World Championship of Legends (WCL)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[1406,104642,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-277326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-pakistan-india-tensions","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114885545703315455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}