 "India pull out of WCL semifinal amid political tensions, Pakistan advance to final: Report")
Birmingham: Indian Champions have pulled out of their World Championship of Legends (WCL) semifinal clash against Pakistan Champions, owing to tense political relations between both nations, reported ESPNCricinfo on Wednesday.
This ends India’s journey in the six-team tournament at fourth place, with a win, a no-result and three losses. The semifinal was originally scheduled for Thursday, but now, the Pakistan Champions will advance to the finals, facing off against either the Australia Champions or the South Africa Champions, who are playing the second semifinal.
Notably, the Indian Champions side, consisting of stars like Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan etc, had earlier also refused to play their group stage match against Pakistan Champions on July 20.
While both teams had shared the points after India’s refual to play, Pakistan Champions will now progress to finals because of their top place finish, with four wins and nine points.
Sporting relations between both the nations have once again deteriorated due to a terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir earlier in April this year, which was followed by an ‘Operation Sindoor’ by Indian Armed Forces in retailiation to the attack.
However, things, at least for now, look normal in international cricket, with both teams set to face each other in the Asia Cup in the UAE on September 14, while the Indian women’s team will be playing their ICC Women’s World Cup clash against the arch-rivals on October 6 in Colombo.
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