{"id":7558,"date":"2025-07-20T04:12:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T04:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/7558\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T04:12:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T04:12:03","slug":"india-vs-pakistan-match-called-off-legends-withdraw-wcl-issues-apology-after-backlash-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/7558\/","title":{"rendered":"India vs Pakistan match called off: Legends withdraw; WCL issues apology after backlash | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/122792646.jpg\" alt=\"India vs Pakistan match called off: Legends withdraw; WCL issues apology after backlash\" title=\"India vs Pakistan WCL match called off\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>India vs Pakistan WCL match called off In a major development, the organisers of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) have officially called off the much-anticipated India vs Pakistan fixture, issuing a public apology for hurting public sentiment and causing discomfort to Indian cricket legends.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@toisports\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">SUBSCRIBE NOW!<\/a>In a formal statement, WCL said the decision to schedule an India-Pakistan game was inspired by a recent friendly volleyball encounter between the two nations, aimed at creating &#8220;happy memories&#8221; for fans. <\/p>\n<p>Why Team India came to Manchester from London via train and walked in rain<\/p>\n<p>However, the organisers admitted that the announcement ended up &#8220;hurting the feelings of many&#8221; and caused unease among Indian players. \u201cWe deeply regret the emotional distress caused and apologise for the inconvenience,\u201d WCL said, confirming that the match has been scrapped.The move follows strong resistance from Indian cricketers. Former India cricketer <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/shikhar-dhawan\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shikhar Dhawan<\/a> shared a statement on social media platform X, reaffirming his decision to not play against Pakistan. He also posted an email he had sent to WCL organisers on May 11, clearly communicating his refusal to participate due to the prevailing geopolitical tensions.\u201cJo kadam 11 May ko liya, uspe aaj bhi waise hi khada hoon. Mera desh mere liye sab kuch hai, aur desh se badhkar kuch nahi hota (I stand by the decision I took on May 11. My country is everything to me, and nothing is above the nation),\u201d Dhawan wrote.<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/suresh-raina\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Suresh Raina<\/a> also echoed the same stance, while sources suggest that other Indian legends had privately communicated similar concerns to the organisers.Adding to the chorus, WCL sponsor EaseMyTrip issued a strong statement distancing itself from any fixture involving Pakistan. \u201cDespite entering into a 5-year sponsorship agreement, EaseMyTrip will not associate with or participate in any WCL match involving Pakistan,\u201d the travel-tech portal said. The company reiterated its full support to the India Champions and emphasised, \u201cBharat First. Always.\u201dWCL 2025, sanctioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), is set to run from July 18 to August 2 at four UK venues &#8211; Birmingham, Northampton, Leicester, and Leeds &#8211; with retired international stars participating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India vs Pakistan WCL match called off In a major development, the organisers of the World Championship of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,9505,9507,9508,9504,7870,9503,85,7874,9506,9502,7876],"class_list":["post-7558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-easemytrip-statement","tag-india-champions-cricket-team","tag-india-vs-pakistan-cricket-match","tag-indian-cricket-legends","tag-shikhar-dhawan","tag-shikhar-dhawan-statement","tag-sports","tag-suresh-raina","tag-wcl-2025-details","tag-wcl-apology","tag-world-championship-of-legends"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}