The World Championship of Legends is all set to see yet another India vs Pakistan showdown, two matches of which became no-shows from the Indian side in the 2025 edition of the tournament against the backdrop of the Pahalgam attack.
The third edition of the WCL will be held in the UAE from October 3 to 18, with India Champions and Pakistan Champions all set to face off in a high-profile league-stage clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 10.
The match is scheduled for 7:30 pm local time, or 9 pm IST and is the biggest game of the league phase. But given what transpired in the 2025 edition, the announcement might raise questions over whether the highly anticipated clash will go ahead this time.
India Champions and Pakistan Champions were
scheduled to face each other twice in last year’s WCL, but neither game took place. Their first clash, a league-stage encounter at Edgbaston, was called off after multiple members of the Indian team refused to play against Pakistan amidst heightened political tensions between the two nations after the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
The controversy didn’t end there, with the tournament producing another India-Pakistan clash in the semi-finals. India’s players once again refused to take part, resulting in the knockout game being abandoned and Pakistan Champions advancing to the final without a ball being bowled.
Former Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan was among the most vocal Indian players on the problem, making his stance clear during the tournament. Multiple other prominent members of the India Champions team were also set to feature against Pakistan, turning what was expected to be the competition’s biggest attraction into its biggest off-field controversy.
Against that backdrop, the scheduling of the October 10 clash assumes added significance. WCL has once again pitted India and Pakistan against each other despite last year’s two abandoned games, meaning the build-up could once again be shaped more by the Indian players’ stance than by the cricket itself.
