WCL 2025 | WCL organisers 'apologize for hurting sentiments' after calling off India-Pakistan game

‌The World Championship of Legends tournament has experienced a major setback as the upcoming game between India Legends and Pakistan Legends, which was scheduled to take place in Birmingham, has been cancelled due to the ongoing geopolitical issues between the two nations. The friction has already caused a issues in previously held franchise tournaments such as the IPL and PSL, which had to be rescheduled due to the conflicts.

The saga began with Shikhar Dhawan, part of the India legends squad, announcing his wihtdrawal from the game through an email that he reposted on social media.

“In view of our current geopolitical situation and 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,” Dhawan’s statement read.

Shortly after Dhawan’s post, the organizers released a statement stating that the incident had triggerred them to call off the game between the two rival teams.

“We at WCL have always cherished and loved cricket, and our only aim has been to give fans some good, happy moments. 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. More than that, we unintentionally caused discomfort to our Indian Cricket Legends, who have brought so much glory to the country, and we ended up affecting the brands who supported us purely out of love for the game. Hence, we have decided to call off the India vs 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,” the WCL statement read.

Both India and Pakistan are now slated to play their next games against South Africa, in Northampton and Leicester on July 22 and July 25 respectively.