Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi took a jibe at former Indian cricketers after many of them decided to opt out of the India vs Pakistan Champions match, which eventually resulted in the cancellation of the marquee clash between the two arch-rivals at the second edition of the World Championship of Legends.
The India vs Pakistan Champions match was slated to be held at Edgbaston on Sunday and was cancelled by the organisers after several India Champions stars called for a boycott of their opening contest in the tournament. Former India opener Shikhar Dhawan announced his decision not to feature in the match in Birmingham late on Saturday through social media, owing to the geopolitical conflicts that have arisen post the Pahalgam terror attacks in April this year.
India stars Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, and Yusuf Pathan had also pulled out of the Pakistan match.
“We are here to play cricket and I’ve always said that cricket should be kept away from politics; it should move forward. A player should be a good ambassador, not a source of embarrassment for their country. 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,” said Afridi while speaking to the media.
The former Pakistan all-rounder said, had he known about this outcome, he would have avoided being at the venue altogether.
“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 sports is bigger, cricket is bigger, and it’s bigger than Shahid Afridi too,” he added.
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Kamil Khan, the owner of Pakistan Champions, has confirmed that the WCL will continue according to the roster decided, with no changes.
“All the remaining matches are taking place. The tournament is proceeding as scheduled, with no changes. As for the semifinals and final, we’re currently saying that if we make it to the semifinals, there will be four teams and we will avoid matches between the two teams,” Kamil said.
