Shahid Afridi had spoken on the cancellation of the India vs Pakistan match in the World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2025. The former Pakistani cricketer has remained extremely vocal post his international career and, on many occasions, has made political statements against India.
This happened after the tensions flared between India and Pakistan in May as well. Indian cricketers criticised Afridi for his comments. But just two months later, the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, and many others agreed to play Afridi and Pakistan in the legends match.
Afridi speaks on the cancelled India vs Pakistan match
This infuriated Indians online. In the aftermath, several Indian cricketers withdrew, and on the day of the match, it was cancelled. Afridi has now spoken on the decision to cancel the India vs Pakistan game. He says that the Indian team shouldn’t have even travelled to India if they didn’t wish to play.
“We’ve come here to play cricket. If (India) didn’t want to play against Pakistan, they should’ve refused before coming here. But now you’ve arrived, even held practice sessions, and then suddenly changed everything in a single day,” Afridi told reporters in Birmingham.
Afridi added that cricket is bigger than politics. Many have pinned the cancellation on him, and he went on to claim that he would’ve even entered the ground if that meant the India vs Pakistan match would have gone ahead as scheduled.
“We’ve come here to play cricket, to have one-on-one interactions and friendly conversations. But sometimes, there’s one bad egg that spoils everything for everyone else. If I had known the match was being stopped because of me, I wouldn’t have even gone to the ground. But cricket should go on. What is Shahid Afridi in front of cricket? Nothing,” he said.
“The game comes first. As a sport, cricket is the biggest thing. Bringing politics into it, or an Indian cricketer saying he won’t play against Pakistan—then don’t play, just sit out. But sport is bigger, cricket is bigger, and it’s bigger than Shahid Afridi too,” Afridi added.
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