Fact Check: USA cricket team enjoys pani puri ahead of T20 Cup 2026? No, viral video is old
A video showing American cricket players relishing street food is going viral on social media.
By - K Sherly Sharon
Claim:USA cricket players were spotted enjoying pani puri in Mumbai after a warm-up match with India on February 2, ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026.
Fact:The claim is misleading. This is a 2025 video from Anand, Gujarat.
Hyderabad: A video showing a group of people wearing USA cricket jerseys relishing pani puri at a street food stall in Mumbai is going viral on social media.
Several news organisations published the video and screenshots from it, claiming that members of the men’s cricket team from the United States of America were recently seen enjoying Mumbai street food ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The video gained traction amid reports of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) expressing safety concerns for its players in India and the Pakistan government’s announcement that its team would not take the field against India.
An X user shared the viral video with the caption:“USA cricketers enjoying pani puri (golgappa) in Mumbai after the warm-up match vs India — pure desi vibes.” (Archive)
The warm-up match between India Group A and the United States national cricket team was played on February 2 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
News outlets that published similar claims include News18, Asianet News, and Outlook, among others.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the viral claims are misleading. This is a one year old video from Anand, Gujarat.
Using reverse image search on keyframes from the viral video, NewsMeter found the same clip posted on the Instagram page of a pani puri shop named Shree Ganesh Pani Puri (handle: “_shreeganeshpanipuri_”) on February 4, 2025. The caption reads: “USA CRICKET TEAM VISIT @shreeganeshpanipuri SHREE GANESH PANIPURI.” The post also tags the location as Shree Ganesh Pani Puri.
A search of the tagged location on Google Maps shows that the shop is located in Anand, Gujarat, indicating that the video was not shot in Mumbai, as claimed in the viral posts.Using the contact number listed on the Instagram account, NewsMeter spoke to Hitesh Patel, the vendor who runs the shop. He confirmed that the video shows members of the USA cricket team relishing pani puri at his outlet. However, he clarified that the clip is at least a year old and not connected to any recent match or event. Patel also confirmed that the shop is located in Anand, Gujarat.
“This happened a year ago when the USA cricket team came to our shop to enjoy pani puri. This is not a recent incident,” he said.
Patel added that the video uploaded to their Instagram account last year is now being recirculated with misleading claims.
“Some people are circulating it saying this happened on February 2, but that is not true,” he added.
We also found a Gujarati-language report published by Bombay Samachar on February 6, 2025, which featured a screenshot from the now-viral video. The report had also embedded the Instagram video from Shree Ganesh Pani Puri.
“The United States Cricket Board, which co-hosted the T20 World Cup with the West Indies last year, has sent its national players to India to play a cricket match against the Namibian team. However, before that, the American cricketers enjoyed some street food in Gujarat. They especially enjoyed the pani puri in Anand,” the report said.The report also added that the players included Sanjay Krishnamurthy, Aaron Jones, and Utkarsh Srivastava
The video showing USA cricket players enjoying pani puri in Mumbai is not recent and not connected to any February 2026 warm-up match or the upcoming T20 World Cup. It has been online since at least February 2025.
NewsMeter concludes that the claim is misleading.
