"We Would've Crushed Pakistan, But...": Suresh Raina's Unfiltered Post On WCL Final Result

South Africa Champions thrashed Pakistan Champions in the summit clash of the World Championship of Legends 2025 on Saturday in Birmingham. Opting to bat first, Pakistan posted a good total of 195/5 in 20 overs with opener Sharjeel Khan scoring 76 off 44 balls. Later, the Proteas chased down the target with nine wickets in hand and 19 balls to spare. Skipper AB de Villiers, who already dominated the entire tournament with his powerful hitting, once again played an unbeaten knock of 120 off 60 and propelled the Proteas to a comfortable title win.

After South Africa's win, former India batter Suresh Raina, who was a part of India Champions team, took to X (formerly Twitter) and congratulated the Proteas while taking a dig at Pakistan.

"What a knock by @ABdeVilliers17 in the final, absolutely smashed it Had we played, we would've crushed them too, but we chose our nation above everything else. Full respect to @EaseMyTrip and @nishantpitti for standing firm and not supporting any match involving them. That's real character," wrote Raina on X.

What a knock by @ABdeVilliers17 in the final, absolutely smashed it

Had we played, we would've crushed them too, but we chose our nation above everything else.

Full respect to @EaseMyTrip and @nishantpitti for standing firm and not supporting any match involving them. That's…

— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) August 2, 2025

For the unversed, India Champions, who were led hy Yuvraj Singh, first refused to play their league match against Pakistan as a protest against Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025.

Later, when both the teams were qualified the semi-finals and had to face each other again, India once again opted out, which enabled Pakistan to reach the final against South Africa.

Due to the controversies in the 2025 edition, The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that it is issuing a blanket ban from future participation in the WCL.

As per the governing body of Pakistan cricket, WCL's statement and actions, following the decision by India Legends to pull out of the semi-final against Pakistan, were 'tainted with hypocrisy and bias'

"The PCB, during its 79th BoG meeting held virtually under the chairmanship of Mohsin Naqvi reviewed with considerable disappointment WCL's appalling conduct of awarding points to a willfully forfeiting team, and the content of the press releases of the WCL announcing the cancellation of the scheduled India vs. Pakistan legends matches, which were tainted with hypocrisy and bias.

(With IANS Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

South Africa Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team India Cricket Team Suresh Raina AB de Villiers Cricket