Shahid Afridi reacts to India's decision to pull out of WCL 2025 match against Pakistan
"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,”
“All the remaining matches are taking place. The tournament is going on as per schedule, and there are no changes. As for the semifinals and final, we’re currently saying that if we make it to the semifinals, there will be four teams, and we will avoid matches between the two teams,”.
“If we reach the final, then the decisions regarding that will be made then. And as for this match, the two points will be awarded to us, and we deserve those points as per the rules,”
“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,”
“We’ve come here to play cricket, to have one-on-one interactions and friendly conversations. But sometimes, there’s one bad 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,”
“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, just sit out. But sports is bigger, cricket is bigger, and it’s bigger than Shahid Afridi too"