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India Champions are scheduled to face Pakistan Champions on Thursday within the semifinal of the 2025 World Championship of Legends.
Yuvraj Singh (left) is captaining India Champions while Shoaib Malik is leading Pakistan Champions. (AFP Photo)
Amidst the diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, a veterans’ T20 tournament is within the highlight with the cricket teams of the 2 countries participating in it. After their meeting earlier within the World Championship of Legends was cancelled with India players withdrawing their names, the 2 rivals are set to clash again after making it to the semifinals stage.
Pakistan Champions qualified after topping the group stage with 4 wins and one no result from five matches while India Champions finished fourth after one win, one no result and three defeats.
WCL 2025 Semifinal Lineups
The format of the tournament is such that the top-four teams after the tip of the league stage will advance to the semifinals. The team at the highest of the points table will tackle the fourth-placed side in the primary semifinal on Thursday. On the identical day, the second and fourth placed teams will square off within the second semifinal.
As per the format, India will face Pakistan in the primary semifinal while South Africa face Australia within the second semifinal.
WCL 2025 Points Table
| Teams | Matches | Won | Lost | No Result | Points | NRR |
| Pakistan Champions | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2.452 |
| South Africa Champions | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2.595 |
| Australia Champions | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -0.991 |
| India Champions | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | -0.558 |
| England Champions | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | -0.809 |
| West Indies Champions | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | -2.303 |
Will India-Pakistan Semifinal Clash Be Cancelled?
Given the outrage over an Indian team comprising yesteryear stars like Yuvraj Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina facing Pakistan, their league stage contest was called off. Dhawan and Raina confirmed their withdrawal via social media following which the match was abandoned with the 2 teams receiving some extent each.
Now, the large query: Will the semifinal match be called off too?
Given what’s riding on the end result on this contest, it appears unlikely that it would be called off.
Nevertheless, Pakistan Champions owner Kamil Khan had earlier said that the schedule of the tournament will remain unaffected but a semifinal clash between the 2 teams shall be avoided.
“As for the semifinals and final, we’re currently saying that if we make it to the semifinals, there shall be 4 teams, and we’ll avoid matches between the 2 teams,” Kamil was quoted as saying by GeoNews.
Should that occur, India Champions might find yourself facing either Australia or South Africa of their semifinal clash.
What If It’s India vs Pakistan in WCL Final?
The organisers can have one other headache should each India and Pakistan win their respective semifinal matches and find yourself meeting within the title clash.
Will the ultimate go ahead or be called off with each teams declared as joint winners? Or the team ending the league stage at the highest shall be picked because the winner?
Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He launched into his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital…Read More
Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He launched into his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital… Read More
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