Edited Photo Viral Claiming Afghanistan Cricketer Celebrated With Indian Flag
CLAIM: Photo shows Afghanistan cricketer celebrating with the Indian national flag after the team's win against England at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
FACT CHECK : BOOM reviewed the exact moment seen in the photo with the original replay of the match and found that there is no Indian flag in the hands of any Aghanistani team member. We also identified the person in the photo as Nasir Khan, part of the Afghanistan cricket team's media team, who confirmed to us that the photo is edited and fake.
A viral photo claiming an Afghanistan cricketer celebrated with the Indian national flag after the team's win against England at the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy is edited and fake.
BOOM found that in the original footage from the match, the individual seen in the viral photo is empty handed and not holding the Indian tricolour. We further identified him as Nasir Khan, part of the Afghanistan cricket team's media management team, who confirmed to BOOM that he was not carrying anything in his hands and the photo is edited to show him holding the Indian flag.
Afghanistan knocked England out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on February 26 with a thrilling eight-run victory at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. Batting first, they posted their highest-ever total in an ICC Men's ODI tournament, setting a challenging target of 326, with Ibrahim Zadran scoring a remarkable 177 off 146 balls. In a must-win Group B clash, Joe Root fought back with a sublime 120, but England fell short, ending their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
The photo which shows a member of the Afghanistan team's support staff greeting the team member Rashid Khan with an Indian flag. The image is being shared with a Hindi text that translates to, "After winning against England, Afghanistan team raised the Indian flag on Pakistani ground which made the people of entire Pakistan furious."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The same photo was used in a report by a YouTube channel named First Cricket with the same false claim.
Click here to view the report and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM identified the support staff member who confirmed that he was not holding any flag in his hand and further able to confirm that the flag is edited into the photo to make the viral claim.
We first noticed that the flag is suspended mid-air, with nobody grasping the flag. We have highlighted the same in a close up picture below :
We then reviewed the full replay of the group stage match between England and Afghanistan in the ICC Champions Trophy on February 26, 2025, on JioHotstar to verify the viral visual.
The exact visual was found in the replay, with the Afghanistan cricket team support staff member not holding anything in his hands.
The original visual of the incident can be seen at the counter 9:09:21 time mark in the replay of the game, when Afghanistan team member Rashid Khan was joined by others including support staff to celebrate following their victory over England.
The original interaction as visible in the match replay can be seen below:
We also compared the original visual with the viral photo. The comparison shows that the Indian flag was digitally added to make the false claim.
Further, we identified the team member seen in the photo as Nasir Khan, who is part of Afghanistan cricket team's media management team.
Speaking to BOOM, Khan rubbished the viral claim and confirmed that the photo is edited, "I was then going to hug Rashid. I was not carrying any flag at that moment," he said.
BOOM also tested the photo using the AI detector tool Hive Moderation, which concluded that the image is unlikely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.
This confirmed that the flag has been added using editing tools and is not AI generated.
(This story was originally published by boomlive.in, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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Delhi CM Rekha Gupta accuses Mamata Banerjee of stalling SIR; TMC hits back
Kolkata (PTI): Alleging that her West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had approached the Supreme Court to stall the SIR exercise to prevent the identification of infiltrators, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday claimed that the people of the state have made up their minds to dislodge the Trinamool Congress from power.
The TMC countered strongly, urging Gupta to "look into her own backyard" and accused her of making absurd allegations against the TMC government without checking facts.
Addressing participants at the 'Nari Sankalp Yatra' organised by the BJP's women's wing at Science City auditorium here, Gupta alleged that the "hands-off" and appeasement policies of the TMC government had allowed thousands of infiltrators to enter the state in recent years.
She claimed that this had put a strain on basic rights such as access to water, electricity, ration, education, livelihood and the right to vote for genuine citizens.
"She wants to perpetuate this and hence is trying to stall the SIR exercise, which aims at identifying and deporting infiltrators. Imagine a chief minister going to the apex court to argue against an exercise meant to ensure free and fair polls," Gupta said.
The BJP leader alleged that appeasement politics had reached an "alarming level" under the TMC regime.
Raising concerns over women's safety, she claimed that women in the state were not secure despite having a woman chief minister.
Referring to the rape-murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Hospital, Gupta alleged that the state government had failed to respond adequately to such crimes.
She also referred to the alleged rape of a woman medic in Durgapur and another law student on a Kolkata college campus, claiming that criminals had been emboldened to commit brutalities against women.
She alleged that in crimes against women, overall crime incidents and child marriages, West Bengal remained among the top -- "a slur on a state which once led intellectual and social movements and set examples for the rest of the country," she said.
Criticising the state government's welfare initiatives, she said schemes such as Kanyashree were built on "false claims" and asserted that women needed security rather than assurances.
Accusing the state government of blocking central schemes, Gupta alleged that funds worth "lakhs of crores of rupees" had not reached the poor due to non-implementation of programmes such as Ayushman Bharat, PM Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission by the state.
"You are only interested in renaming projects and taking credit," she said.
Gupta also alleged that the education sector in the state had been adversely affected, saying several state-run schools had closed due to a shortage of teachers and that the government was opposed to the National Education Policy.
Drawing a comparison with BJP-ruled Delhi, Gupta said, "People have already voted out 'Bhaia' (a reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal). Now it is your turn to bid farewell to 'Didi'." Calling upon women to resist what she termed "strong-arm tactics", she urged them to assert their strength, invoking the imagery of Goddess Durga.
"Bengal has the right to live with dignity, and women have the right to live with dignity," she added.
Reacting to Gupta's allegations, West Bengal Women and Child Welfare minister Shashi Panja accused her of making "absurd allegations" against the Trinamool Congress government ahead of elections.
Panja alleged that during Gupta's tenure in Delhi, several incidents had raised serious concerns, including reports of missing young women and a blast near the Red Fort.
She also criticised the air pollution situation in the national capital, claiming that people were struggling to breathe.
The TMC leader said that despite being in power for a year, Gupta was making "tall claims" instead of addressing key issues in Delhi.
Panja further alleged that the Delhi CM visited West Bengal during elections to "peddle false allegations" against the state government.
Rebutting Gupta, the TMC said in a post on X said, "Madam why did you go off-script again? For your edification, here are the cold, hard facts: In total cases of crimes (IPC + SLL), Bengal ranks a respectable 15th, far safer than BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, which languish near the bottom."
"In overall crime rate, Bengal sits comfortably at 28th. Who's second? Your own Delhi. Double Engine Gujarat and Haryana grab 4th and 5th as top-tier crime havens," the TMC said.
"In child marriage, Assam again takes the shameful pole position. And yet you dare lecture Bengal? Stop embarrassing yourself, stop the hypocrisy, and maybe fix the rotting mess in your own backyard before pointing fingers at a state that's outperforming your disasters on every key metric," the TMC countered.
