Former Indian star Suresh Raina showered praise on South African legend AB de Villiers for his explosive performance in the final of the World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2025. South Africa convincingly defeated Pakistan on Saturday, August 2, to lift the trophy. De Villiers dazzled the crowd with an unbeaten century, guiding his team to a comfortable victory.
Raina, while lauding the Proteas’ dominance, also made a bold statement, suggesting that had India featured in the semi-final, they would have handed Pakistan a crushing defeat.
“𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅, 𝒘𝒆’𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒐,” 𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍.
India’s Withdrawal Sparks Controversy
Despite the grandeur of the final, much of the tournament’s buzz centered around India’s high-profile withdrawal from matches against Pakistan. In response to the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian legends Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Yusuf Pathan opted out of their scheduled opener against Pakistan.
The boycott extended to the semi-final as well. Even though India and Pakistan were set to clash again, Indian players upheld their stance, choosing to withdraw and giving Pakistan a walkover into the final.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 — 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑰𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏.
de Villiers, Duminy Seal It for South Africa
In the title clash, AB de Villiers put on a show with his third century of the tournament — an unbeaten 120 off 60 balls — as South Africa chased down a target of 196 in just 16.5 overs. JP Duminy provided solid support with a quickfire 50 off 28 deliveries. The duo’s partnership ensured South Africa lost just one wicket en route to their emphatic WCL 2025 triumph.
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