AI image of cricket players in burqa misleads online
- Published on October 27, 2025 at 08:32
- 2 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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Social media in Hindu-majority India is awash with misinformation targeting Muslims, with recent posts mocking cricket athletes from neighbouring Bangladesh for supposedly wearing burqas during a match against New Zealand. The image circulating online is AI-generated and does not depict the actual Women's Cricket World Cup game on October 10, 2025, according to an AFP journalist who covered the event.
"Bangladesh's women cricket team. Islamic radicals have made jokers out of their women," reads a Hindi-language X post shared October 13, 2025.
The post included an image showing two players standing on the pitch, clad in burqas.
Controversy has long raged in Hindu-majority India over the Islamic headscarf and burqa -- an all-enveloping outer garment worn by some Muslim women.
Widespread protests were reported in 2022 after schools in southern Karnataka state banned the Islamic headscarf in classrooms (archived link).
More recently, controversy erupted at a private school in northern Kanpur city in September 2025 after Muslim women accused the management of stopping them from attending a parents' meeting because they were wearing burqas (archived link).
The AI image of burqa-clad cricket players -- which also spread in Pakistan -- emerged after Muslim-majority Bangladesh suffered a crushing defeat to New Zealand at the Women's World Cup in Guwahati, India (archived link).
The logo of Google's Gemini AI tool can be seen in the bottom right corner of the image (archived link).
Moreover, it contains visual mistakes indicating the image is not genuine, such as the bat being oddly positioned on the foot of one player.
Her right footpad also appears tucked inside the burqa while the left one remains outside.
An AFP journalist who covered the match also confirmed no players from Bangladesh wore burqas.
"The viral photo of the Bangladesh women's players wearing a burqa is fake, as I was covering the ICC women’s World Cup match between Bangladesh vs New Zealand. I didn't see any player wearing a burqa," he said on October 16.
Highlights of the match do not show any player wearing a burqa (archived link).
AFP has repeatedly debunked anti-Muslim misinformation circulating in India here, here and here.
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