India withdraw from semi-final against Pakistan in veterans' tournament
A group match between the two teams was also called off earlier this month in the veterans' competition sanctioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Tickets will be refunded for the semi-final match which was scheduled to take place in Birmingham on Thursday, WCL organisers said in a statement on Instagram, adding that Pakistan will advance to the final.
India and Pakistan, who have not played bilateral cricket since 2013, are set to face off in the Asia Cup on September 14.
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I hit a few, missed a few, but it felt like the only way to survive.' Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion And so at 11.40am on Monday, Woakes walked out to the middle wearing Jacob Bethell's left‑hander's thigh guard and, in the absence of an oversized arm guard, a couple of smaller ones borrowed from Joe Root and Ollie Pope. He was helped into his whites by Davies, while Ben Stokes strapped on his pads for him. Typical of the man, Woakes says he worried about being a 'pain in the arse' here. 'It was bittersweet in the end,' he says of the fact that he did not face a ball. 'Part of me wondered what it might be like, to see if I could have defended the ball, seen out an over maybe, squeezed a run or carved a four. 'But the other side of it was: 'Thank God I didn't face a 90mph bouncer, one-handed, facing the wrong way around.' And I knew I was going to have to wear a few bouncers if I did get on strike. Those were the anxious feelings, really. You're still pretty exposed out there.' Like Stokes bowling toe‑hunting yorkers to Pant at Old Trafford, despite the India wicketkeeper having a broken foot, any short balls aimed at Woakes would have been fair game – the brutal, uncompromising side of a sport that, bar concussion, does not do substitutions. Stokes himself has said he does not think a rule permitting them should come in. While the series was a powder keg, with running verbals throughout, the scenes at the end showed the respect underpinning it all. Shubman Gill, India's captain, made a point of stopping to commend Woakes after the match, as did pretty much his entire team. Pant, whose foot had been broken by Woakes during the fourth Test, was back in India but the pair have since swapped messages. 'Shubman said something like: 'That was incredibly brave,'' Woakes says. 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Having played for 18 years, the game is what it is: you lose a player and as a team you have to find a way. It makes you more resilient and the team stronger. I do understand why people might think it's needed for freak injuries like mine but there would be too many grey areas or loopholes.' And being hailed as a hero? 'I mean, it's not the way you want to be front-page news – you'd sooner it was for five wickets or a century. There have been a lot of ups and downs since but yeah, the love from the public has helped. 'It is so weird to go from the start of a Test week, thinking 'one last push', to ending up on a physio's table wondering what the future holds.' Whatever that is – whether that was indeed one last act of selflessness in an England career that has been built on it – the world will be wishing him well.
