WCL 2025: ‘There is always one rotten egg’ – Shahid Afridi opens up on India pulling out of Pakistan game

Shahid Afridi, who has previously made remarks suggesting Indian complicity in terrorist actions against their people, received a strong criticism from Indian followers.

A much-anticipated showdown between India Champions and Pakistan Champions in the present World Championship of Legends (WCL 2025) has been cancelled after some Indian players chose to withdraw due to the current geopolitical scenario and tensions between the two adjacent countries. The match, planned for July 20 at Edgbaston in Birmingham, was supposed to be India’s tournament opener, but it was postponed as Indian legends stated their unwillingness to play against their old enemies.

The impact stems from the April 22 Pahalgam terror assault in India, which sparked cross-border tensions with Pakistan.

Shikhar Dhawan, a former India opener, has officially stated that he will not play in any matches against Pakistan owing to the geopolitical scenario.

His remark was supported by the withdrawals of several Indian players, including Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Yusuf Pathan. WCL organisers were forced to cancel the India-Pakistan match due to public uproar and player protests. Following that, Shahid Afridi broke his quiet and attacked Dhawan and the Indian team.

“Sports brings countries together. How will you proceed if politics becomes an impediment? Problems cannot be solved without communication. The goal behind these kind of events is to meet one on one. But, you know, there’s always one rotten egg that ruins everything. They trained the day before the match. I believe they withdrew only because of one individual. Even the Indian team is quite dissatisfied. They came to play. “I am telling you, you should be a good ambassador for the country, not an embarrassment,” Afridi told reporters on Sunday, July 20.

If they had not played for me, I would have stayed home: Shahid Afridi

Notably, Afridi’s request to keep politics out of cricket contrasts with his past comments. Just months ago, he accused India of orchestrating the Pahalgam attacks and blamed the Indian military for inaction. His involvement in the WCL match, despite these prior statements, became a hot topic for Indian players. However, Afridi later expressed regret over the cancellation and claimed he would have stepped back if informed earlier.

“We were very excited to play the second match (vs India). I thought we would be at the ground. We were expecting 17,000–18,000 fans, who would have enjoyed the match. But yeah, it is quite disappointing that we did not play. If they did not played for me, I would have stayed home. Cricket should have continued. Who is Shahid Afridi in front of cricket? No one. If they did not want to play why did they come here? Go sit at home and play between yourselves,” he added.

WCL organisers have since confirmed that the rest of the tournament will go ahead as planned. Pakistan Champions were awarded two points for the cancelled game, and the possibility of an India-Pakistan knockout clash is still uncertain. Pakistan Champions owner Kamil Khan pointed out that future meetings between the two sides would be avoided in the group stages, but added that any potential semi-final or final clash would be decided based on circumstances.