Shahid Afridi breaks silence on India-Pakistan match fiasco: There is one rotten egg

Controversial Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi stoked fire on Sunday, July 20 against the Indian team, which pulled out of their match against Pakistan at the World Championship of Legends (WCL 2025). Multiple players from the Indian team opted out of the exhibition game against Pakistan due to the presence of Shahid Afridi, who had made some problematic statements against India during the tensions between the two countries.

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Speaking to the local media on Sunday, the day that the match was scheduled to be played, Shahid Afridi claimed that even the Indian cricketers were disappointed to not play the game and blamed the pull-out on Shikhar Dhawan, who had publicly announced that he would not play the exhibition match if Afridi was part of the Pakistan line-up.

Afridi called Dhawan a 'rotten egg' and blamed him for 'spoiling' the rest of the Indian cricketers.

"...Sports brings countries closer. If politics comes between everything then how will you move forward? Without communication, things cannot be solved. 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," Shahid Afridi told the media on Sunday, July 20.

Afridi further added fuel to the fire by insinuating that Dhawan was an embarrassment for his nation. He went on to add that the Indian team should have stayed home if they did not want to play cricket at the WCL 2025.

"They trained a day before the match. I think that they pulled out just because of one guy. Even the Indian team is very disappointed. They were here to play. I am telling you, you should be a good ambassador for the country, not an embarrassment," Afridi said.

Shahid Afridi's Double Standards

The words of sports diplomacy come in sharp contrast to the comments made by Shahid Afridi in the month of April, where he had alleged that the Indian government carried out attacks on its own citizens in Pahalgam.

"The terrorists continued to kill people in Pahalgam for an hour, and not a single Indian soldier out of 8 lakh showed up. But when they did, they blamed Pakistan," Afridi had told local reporters in Pakistan.

"India carries out terrorism itself, kills its own people, and then puts the blame on Pakistan," he said.

On Sunday, Afridi turned up in another avatar, stating that he was there as an ambassador of cricket and was hugely disappointed that the match did not take place at Edgbaston.

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"We were very excited to play the second match (vs India). I thought we would be at the ground. We were expecting 17,000–18,000 fans, who would have enjoyed the match. But yeah, it is quite disappointing that we did not play," he said on Sunday.

Afridi further claimed that if he had known that the Indian team had problems with his presence, he would have removed himself from Sunday's game.

"If they did not play for me, I would have stayed home. Cricket should have continued. Who is Shahid Afridi in front of cricket? No one. If they did not want to play why did they come here? Go sit at home and play between yourselves," he added.

The India vs Pakistan match at WCL 2025 was supposed to be the first cricketing event between India and Pakistan since Operation Sindoor. However, the match was called off after a massive backlash from Indian citizens on social media, who questioned the former cricketers for participating in an event alongside Pakistan cricketers amid cross-border tensions with the neighbouring state.

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Published By: Kingshuk Kusari Published On: Jul 21, 2025

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