After Afghanistan’s outstanding victory over England in the ICC Champions Trophy on February 26 in Lahore, a picture has gone viral on social media claiming to show Afghan fans in the stands holding a banner featuring the national flags of India and Afghanistan. The banner depicts two hands shaking, each painted in the colours of the respective flags, with users claiming this was how Afghan supporters cheered for their team during the match.
A Facebook user posted the viral post with the following caption:
🇮🇳INDIA 🤝 AFGHANISTAN🇦🇫
– Afghanistan’s fans with the Indian flag & Afghanistan flag at Lahore during the match today. ❤️🫶
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral post, and found the claims to be false.
A Reverse Image Search of the picture identifies a News18 report, dated June 25, 2024, featuring the same image. As per the report, the image was taken during Afghanistan’s victory over Bangladesh in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup held in West Indies.
However, a closer look at a similar image shared on X (formerly Twitter) on the same day revealed a 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup watermark, suggesting that the image could be from India instead.
NewsMobile also discovered a post by journalist Jafar Haand, dated November 7, 2023, claiming that the image was of 2023 World Cup match fought between Afghanistan and Australia at the Wankhede Stadium. The caption reads: “Today’s crowd in the #AFGvAUS match in Mumbai.”
The NM team also attempted to find the original frame from the match’s video footage but found that the broadcasters had removed the full replay from their platform. Additionally, comparing the seating pattern in the viral image with a vlog by a YouTuber who visited Wankhede Stadium during the 2023 World Cup, we found the seat arrangements matched, confirming that the image was indeed from Mumbai, not Pakistan.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral post, claiming to show Afghan fans in the Champions Trophy holding a banner featuring the national flags of India and Afghanistan, is false.
