Shikhar Dhawan revela a razão por trás do boicote à partida da Índia vs Paquistão na WCL

The purpose of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) was to bring joy to fans. But it was anything but. The tournament courted controversy. The reason was due to scheduled matches between the India Champions and the Pakistan Champions.

The clash was supposed to take place on June 20. But on the eve of the match, there was severe pushback online. In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian public wasn’t happy with India playing a cricket match against Pakistan, even if it was between retired players.

Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, and Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the game. Several other Indian cricketers also followed suit. The match was then cancelled by the organisers of WCL 2025. But that wasn’t the end of it. The first semifinal turned out to be India vs Pakistan.

Reason behind cancellation of India vs Pakistan legends match

Had the match gone ahead, the pushback would be much worse this time around. So, the Indian cricketers withdrew, and Pakistan advanced to the Final. The question was, were the cricketers told to pull out? Did the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) inform them not to play against Pakistan?

Dhawan has answered these questions. The former Indian opener says it was a decision that he and other cricketers made on their own. No one forced them into it or hinted towards it.

“I was personally against playing the match against Pakistan, and it was a conscious decision I took. Some of the others, including Bhajji paa (Harbhajan Singh), also chose not to participate in that particular game,” Dhawan told CricBlogger.

He stated that several players weren’t comfortable with the idea of playing Pakistan after what had happened, and so they pulled out.

“There was no pressure from anyone. Some of us were simply not comfortable playing against Pakistan, and we didn’t see any compelling reason to go ahead and take part in the game,” Dhawan added.