Old video misrepresented as Pakistani fans reaction to India's Asia Cup win

Published on October 1, 2025 at 11:06
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

Old footage of cricket fans ripping up chairs and throwing them at one another has resurfaced in posts falsely claiming it shows Pakistani supporters after their team's loss to rivals India in the Asia Cup final in Dubai. The clip previously circulated three years earlier, after an Asia Cup match between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the nearby Sharjah cricket stadium.

"Pakistani reaction after losing to India in the Asia Cup Final," reads the caption of a video shared on X on September 29, 2025.

The video, which has been viewed more than 500,000 times, appears to show people in a stadium ripping up seats and throwing them at other fans.

It circulated a day after India beat Pakistan by five wickets in Dubai to retain the Asia Cup, a tournament that was overshadowed by ill feeling on both sides (archived link).

The two teams did not shake hands in their three matches at the tournament, and India refused to accept the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), who is also chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister.

India and Pakistan only meet in cricket on neutral territory in international tournaments because of long-simmering tensions between the arch-rivals. Both countries claimed victory in the four-day conflict in May that killed more than 70 people in missile, drone and military fire on each side.

Screenshot of the false post captured on September 30, 2025, with a red mark added by AFP

The video was also shared in similar Facebook and X posts.

But the footage does not show fans at the 2025 Asia Cup final.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage posted on September 8, 2022 on the verified X account of former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar (archived link).

Its caption reads: "This is what Afghan fans are doing. This is what they've done in the past multiple times. This is a game and it's supposed to be played and taken in the right spirit."

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the X video from 2022 (right)

The video was also shared in reports from September 2022 by Pakistani news outlets Dawn, Bol News and Geo News (archived here, here and here).

According to the reports, the video shows Afghanistan fans attacking their Pakistani counterparts after their team lost in the sides' match in the Asia Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on September 7, 2022.

Geo News reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board was planning to raise the matter with the International Cricket Council.

Features visible in the video -- such as advertising boards, light fixtures and the shape of the stand's roof -- also match an AFP photo taken of the stadium at the time.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and a magnified AFP photo of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium (right), with matching features highlighted by AFP

AFP photos from the 2025 Asia Cup final show it was played at the nearby Dubai International Stadium.

AFP has previously debunked posts that misrepresented footage as reactions to Indian cricket results here and here.

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