A photo collage circulating on social media claims to show Bollywood actress and Punjab Kings co-owner Preity Zinta sharing a warm hug with 14-year-old Rajasthan Royals player Vaibhav Suryavanshi at an IPL match.
The collage is being shared with a caption: “Vaibhav Suryavanshi did this when Preity Zinta gave hug to him”.
Similar posts can be seen here, here and here. (Archive link)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the claim and found it to be false.
Conducting a Reverse Image Search of the viral collage, NewsMobile identified several reports by media outlets, including NDTV, Firstpost, and Hindustan Times, carrying the same image in their reports with a headline: “Preity Zinta slams news outlets for using morphed image of her hugging Vaibhav Suryavanshi”, dated March 21, 2025.
These reports clearly stated that the viral image was digitally altered, and at no point did Preity Zinta hug Vaibhav Suryavanshi on the field.
Additionally, the multiple video footages of the IPL 2025 match between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur confirm that Preity Zinta did meet and interact with Suryavanshi, but there is no visual evidence of a hug taking place.
Furthermore, reacting to a now-deleted post on X, the actress expressed her disappointment, stating: “This is a morphed image. I am so surprised now that news channels are also using morphed images and featuring them as news items!”
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral image of Preity Zinta hugging Vaibhav Suryavanshi is digitally manipulated.
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