Lahore, Pakistan: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said that Pakistan will never be able to play in the World Championship of Legends (WCL) competitions again. India’s refusal to play against Pakistan in the most recent WCL, citing “national sentiments” after the recent Pahalgam terror attack, led to this dramatic move.
The situation got worse when India, which was supposed to play its biggest rival Pakistan in the group stage, had that game called off by the organizers because of a lot of anger on social media and the fact that Indian stars like Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina pulled out. In the semi-final, India also refused to play, which meant that Pakistan went straight to the final, where they lost to South Africa.
The PCB says that the WCL is “hypocritical and biased.”
The PCB, led by Mohsin Naqvi, made a forceful public statement on Sunday, accusing the WCL organizers of being “hypocritical and biased.” The board’s 79th Board of Governors meeting, which was held online, “reviewed with great disappointment WCL’s terrible behavior in giving points to a team that had already forfeited, as well as the press releases from WCL announcing the cancellation of the scheduled India vs. Pakistan legends matches, which were full of hypocrisy and bias.”
The PCB’s statement went on to say, “The contents of the said press releases highlight a duality where the narrative of ‘peace through sport’ is selectively applied and sporting events are held hostage to political expediency and narrow commercial interests.”
The Pahalgam Terror Attack: The Reason India Boycotted
The Pahalgam terror assault on April 22, 2025, which killed 26 tourists, is what led to India’s boycott. After that, more and more people in India called for a complete break with Pakistan, including sports events. India then started “Operation Sindoor,” which purportedly attacked terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response.
The PCB called the WCL organizers’ apology for “hurting the sentiments” with their press releases “farcical.” The Pakistan board said that the matches were called off “not based on cricketing merit,” but because they “succumbed to a specific nationalistic narrative.”
The PCB statement said, “This bias, which pretends to be sensitivity, sends an unacceptable message to the international sporting community.”
Keeping Sports Neutral
The PCB ended its statement by stressing how important it is to keep sports fair. “In view of this regrettable turn of events, which shows a clear and unacceptable pattern of outside influence and a lack of respect for the norms of sporting neutrality, the Pakistan Cricket Board must take a strong stand. “The PCB can no longer allow people to take part in an event where outside forces threaten the basic principles of fair play and impartial administration,” the statement said.
The World Championship of Legends’ second edition came to a close on Saturday, July 26, 2025, when South Africa beat Pakistan by nine wickets in the final in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The PCB’s blanket ban shows that the sporting tensions between India and Pakistan are having a big effect, and it could affect future “legends” competitions that want Pakistani cricketers to play.