India and Pakistan were scheduled to face off in the World Championship of Legends (WCL), a tournament featuring retired cricketers. The match between the two nations’ former players was set to take place on Sunday (July 20) at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Despite being a tournament of retired players, the match had generated significant interest among cricket fans from both countries.
However, the match had to be canceled after five Indian players—Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, and Shikhar Dhawan—refused to play against Pakistan. Citing recent political tensions between the two countries, these five players opted out of the fixture. As a result, the organizers were compelled to cancel the game.
Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt expressed his anger over the incident. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he criticized the cancellation and took a dig at India.
Throwing down a challenge, Salman said:
“The whole world is talking about this (cancellation). What message are they sending to their fans? What are they trying to show? What do they want to prove? Then don’t play against us in the World Cup either. Don’t play us in the Olympics. Can you promise that? If you have the guts, cancel the Pakistan match in the World Cup or the Olympics. That’s my challenge.”
He further stated that sports should never be mixed with politics.
“Everything has its own place. Politics and sports are not the same. You are mixing politics with sports. Please, don’t play against us in any competition. I want to see if you can actually do that. I want to see how much patriotism you can show in a competition like the World Cup,” Salman added.
He also criticized the tournament organizers for canceling the match.
“I don’t understand their mindset. Who takes such decisions? Just because four or five players decided not to play, the entire match was canceled? The organizers gave in under pressure. This is unacceptable,” he said.
