BIRMINGHAM, UK – The World Championship of Legends (WCL) semifinal match between India Champions and Pakistan that everyone has been looking forward to is going to be called off since players from the India Champions side have said they won’t play. PTI reports that the decision backs India’s strong opposition to athletic events with Pakistan, especially after the terrible Pahalgam terror assault on April 22, 2025.
Reports say that some of the most important players on the Indian team, like Shikhar Dhawan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, and Suresh Raina, have said they don’t want to play against Pakistan in the knockout game on Thursday, July 31, at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
This is not the first time that someone has taken this position in the competition. The India Champions had taken a similar stance previously in the league stage, when they refused to play Pakistan. The tournament officials eventually called off that league-stage match and apologized to the Indian team for “unintentionally causing discomfort” to the players.
“Terror and Cricket Can’t Go Together”
EaseMyTrip, one of the league’s biggest sponsors, enthusiastically supports the Indian team’s choice. The travel-tech company said in public that it was pulling its support from the semifinal between India and Pakistan for national interest reasons. Nishant Pitti, who co-founded EaseMyTrip, wrote on his “X” (previously Twitter) account that the company was very upset.
“We praise Team India @India_Champions for their amazing performance in the World Championship of Legends. You have made the country proud.” Pitti remarked, “But the semi-final against Pakistan is not just another game. Terror and cricket cannot go hand in hand.”
He went on to say, “We stand with India at @EaseMyTrip.” We can’t support any event that tries to make things normal with a country that supports terrorism. We hear what the people of India have to say. EaseMyTrip would not be involved in the WCL match between India and Pakistan. This strong message makes it clear how deeply the players and sponsors feel about the country.
The way the tournament works and how to get to the semifinals
Pakistan, headed by Mohammad Hafeez, made it to the knockout stage following a great run in the league stage, when they won four out of five games and finished at the top of the table. The India Champions, on the other hand, had a harder time in the group stage. They came in fourth in the group and only made it to the semifinals after beating the West Indies Champions by a wide margin on Tuesday, chasing down their target in just 13.2 overs. Before that important win, the India Champions had lost all of their group-stage matches.
The WCL organizers now face a big problem in handling this boycott, which underlines the continued geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan spilling over into the sporting arena. The event happened after the terrible Pahalgam terror assault on April 22, 2025, which killed 26 people and has been linked to the Pakistan-based terrorist group The Resistance Front (TRF). India’s answer to terrorism was “Operation Sindoor.”
The way things are right now, it looks like the Pakistan Champions will get a free pass into the World Championship of Legends final because the India Champions are unlikely to change their minds.