Shahid Afridi, the captain of the Pakistani cricket team, suggested that politics and sports should be kept apart after the World Championship of Legends match between India and Pakistan was canceled on Sunday. The India Champions team’s Shikhar Dhawan vehemently declined to play against Pakistan in the WCL match in Birmingham, England. Yuvraj Singh, the Pathan brothers, and several other Indian cricket players also refused to play. The game had to be canceled due to the circumstances.
Speaking to reporters after the match was canceled, Afridi bizarrely emphasized the importance of keeping cricket and politics separate, despite having previously made controversial political statements.
“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,” Afridi told reporters.
If India didn’t want to play, they shouldn’t have come to the venue, according to the former captain of the Pakistani national team.
“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,” he added.
It even appeared that Shahid Afridi referred to Dhawan as a “bad egg” because he was the first to voice his disapproval of the Indo-Pak match in the WCL, first doing so a few months ago and then again on Saturday.
“Sports bring people closer, but if politics gets involved in everything, how will we move forward? Until we sit together and discuss issues, nothing will improve – lack of communication only makes things worse,” he said. “We’ve come here to play cricket, to have one-on-one interactions and friendly conversations. But sometimes, there’s one rotten egg that spoils everything for everyone else.”
“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, sit out. But sports is bigger, cricket is bigger, and it’s bigger than Shahid Afridi too,” he concluded.
