Picture Credit: X
With the legends taking the cricket field once again in the ongoing edition of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2025, the inaugural title winners, India Champions’ tournament opener against arch-rivals, Pakistan Champions was called off after several Indian players withdrew from the clash. The highly-anticipated match, which was scheduled to be played on Sunday, July 20 at Edgbaston, was called off after several players, including Shikhar Dhawan, among others, pulled out of the tournament.
However, the decision by the tournament organisers came just hours ahead of the clash, the Indian players' stood by the statement due to the ongoing cross-border tensions which followed the recent terror attacks in Pahalgam. While there were reports of Harbhajan Singh, Irfan and Yusuf Pathan pulling out of the tournament, but Shikhar Dhawan went out loud, confirming his withdrawal in a post on X.
Afridi calls Dhawan a “rotten egg”; blames him for spoiling rest of the Indian cricketers
Taking to X, Dhawan wrote, “Jo 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. Jai Hind! �� This move got stark reactions and among all, former Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi reacted shockingly, labelling the former India opener as a “rotten egg”.
Speaking to the reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of WCL 2025, Afridi said, "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." The former Pakistan all-rounder further continued, “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.”
Apart from this, the 48-year-old while speaking to one of the media reporters, also took an indirect dig at Shikhar Dhawan, who had earlier taken to X to confirm this withdrawal. "...Sports brings countries closer. If politics comes between everything then how will you move forward? Without communication, things cannot be solved,” he added.
“The idea for these kinds of events is also to meet one on one. But you know, there is always one rotten egg, which spoils everything,” Afridi further added, while labelling Dhawan as a “rotten egg”. However, Afridi shared his opinions on the WCL match fiasco, the Pakistan Champions owner, Kamil Khan, who was accompanied by Afridi later confirmed that all other matches will be played as per the roster with no changes.
The Pakistan Champions are next scheduled to play South Africa Champions on Friday, July 25 at the Grace Road in Leicester. The match is set to commence from 9:00 pm (IST) onwards. The Mohammad Hafeez-led side currently sit at the top of the points table after winning one match from their two games so far.
