Manipulated image of Virat Kohli signing Pakistan flag riles cricket fans
- Published on October 29, 2025 at 09:27
- 2 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
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After India's cricketers arrived in Perth in mid-October for a series of matches with Australia, an image of former captain Virat Kohli circulated in social media posts falsely claiming it showed him signing a fan's Pakistan flag. While the fan is from Pakistan, Kohli was in fact signing a Royal Challengers Bengaluru jersey -- the team the cricketer plays for in the Indian Premier League.
"Virat Kohli giving autographs to a Pakistani Fan in Perth and on Pakistani flag what a legend he is," reads the caption of an image shared on Facebook on October 17, 2025.
It shows the former Indian captain autographing what appears to be a Pakistan national flag, although the purported flag has a yellow star rather than a white one.
Relations between the countries have soured further after the nuclear-armed neighbours clashed in May -- a four-day exchange of artillery, drones and missiles that killed more than 70 people (archived link).
The image circulated in similar posts on Facebook, X and Threads, after India's cricketers arrived in Perth for a series of One Day International and Twenty20 matches against Australia (archived link).
While some users commended Kohli's sportsmanship, others termed him a "traitor" for signing the flag of India's arch-rivals.
"Virat is a traitor to the country," one user commented.
Another wrote, "That guy lives in the UK.. what patriotism will he have?"
But the image has been altered.
A reverse image search on Google led to a similar picture shared in an X post from October 16 showing Kohli signing a Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) jersey (archived link).
Kohli plays for the team in the Indian Premier League.
Subsequent keyword searches led to a video of Kohli signing the fan's jersey (archived link).
The video, posted on the verified X account of Indian sports platform RevSportz Global on October 16, is captioned: "A lucky fan of Virat Kohli from Karachi got his RCB jersey signed by the star batter."
The video also shows the fan having an India replica jersey signed by another former India captain, Rohit Sharma.
The cameraman also conducts a short interview with the fan, who says he is from Pakistan's largest city Karachi.
"It was lovely meeting Kohli. I've met him before as well. He’s very humble. I had just asked him once," he added.
The interaction was covered by India Today and Indian cricketing website CricShots (archived here and here).
AFP has previously debunked other cricket-related misinformation stemming from India and Pakistan's rivalry.
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