Harshit Tomar, the owner of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) tournament, has finally broken his silence on why the India versus Pakistan match was cancelled at the last minute in the group stage. Days ahead of the contest between the arch-rivals, there was intense scrutiny on social media with fans expressing their displeasure over former cricketers from India agreeing to play against Pakistan despite the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 tourists in Kashmir.
Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Yusuf Pathan pulled out of the contest a day before the match, and eventually, the organisers had to call the game off. India Champions then also pulled out of the semi-final against Pakistan, resulting in the latter reaching the final.
It must be mentioned that ever since the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, calls to boycott Pakistan in every aspect have been growing, and hence it is no surprise that the WCL organisers came under fire for wanting to go ahead with the match between India and Pakistan in the group stage.
“We are going ahead with the tournament in England, which means that everything was taken care of 8-10 months in advance. Our schedule was revealed in December. The Champions Trophy was played in February. Players from both India and Pakistan met there, and government officials from both contingents also met each other,” said Tomar during a conversation with Shubhankar Mishra on the latter’s YouTube channel.
“I cannot express my sadness at what happened in Pahalgam. We supported Operation Sindoor. The war happened, and then it was stopped. Then, the sports between the two countries started to get normal. We weren’t the first ones to hold the match between India and Pakistan. Meanwhile, we approached the England and Wales Cricket Board, informing them about the geopolitical situation between the two countries. After having a long conversation with the ECB and authorities, they said ‘This is good to go,” he added.
‘Our stand is simple’
The WCL owner also said that he will always abide by what the Indian government says. He stated that if the government clearly directs against engaging with Pakistan in any competition, then he will fully abide by it.
Tomar said that he cannot be faulted for wanting to go ahead with the WCL match between India and Pakistan as the two teams will square off in the Women’s World Cup and the Men’s Asia Cup later this year.
“The Women’s World Cup is soon going to happen. India will take on Pakistan there. Asia Cup chatter is also there. You tell me, where were we wrong in wanting to go ahead with the match? It was next to impossible for me to change things at the last minute. I just had the option of not going ahead with the tournament this year,” said Tomar.
“We had all the permissions from the ECB. Cricket is an emotion. As the match got close, people realised the reality of India playing against Pakistan. They started to express their emotions. We then had to take a call. We realised the enormity of the situation two days before the match. There was a campaign on social media,” he added.
However, Tomar agreed that he failed to read the emotions of the Indian audience, saying the match between India and Pakistan should not have been scheduled in the first place.
“I felt really bad. You raised questions about me; I get that. But you raised questions on Yuvraj Singh, who was battling cancer, and still he played the World Cup. We are Indians, we are emotional. We were being bashed on social media, and we didn’t want to do anything wrong. We failed to read the emotions, and it was premature on our part to want to go ahead with the match,” said the WCL owner.
“The entire Indian team had the stance of not going ahead with the match against Pakistan. All 15 players decided not to play against Pakistan,” he concluded.
