Fact Check: T20 India vs Pak match - Salman Agha ignores handshake from Suryakumar Yadav? No, photo is AI-generated
A photo claiming to show Pakistani captain Salman Ali Agha ignoring a handshake from Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav during the T20 match has gone viral.
By - M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The image shows Pakistan captain Salman Agha ignoring a handshake from Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav during the T20 match.
Fact:The photo is AI-generated. Neither captain extended a handshake to the other during the Sunday match.
Hyderabad: During the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Group A clash between India and Pakistan on February 15 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the cricket captains did not exchange handshakes at the toss. The development was seen as a continuation of the no-handshake stance that began during the 2025 Asia Cup.
Amid this backdrop, a photograph has gone viral on Facebook, claiming to show Pakistani cricketer Salman Agha deliberately ignoring a handshake from Suryakumar Yadav.
A Facebook user shared the image and wrote, “Agha should not have done something like this” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)
Similar posts can be seen here and here. (Archive 1, Archive 2)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the viral photograph is not genuine. It is AI-generated.
What actually happened at the cricket match?
During the toss of the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match on February 15, Salman Ali Agha won the toss and chose to bowl. Authentic match footage shows that neither captain extended a handshake; both walked past each other without physical interaction.
This was reported by major media organisations such as NDTV, Hindustan Times and India Today on the same day. Broadcast visuals from Sky Sports also show the toss moment clearly without any handshake attempt.
This indicates that while the no-handshake incident did occur, the specific viral photograph claiming to capture the moment is fabricated.
Analysis of the viral image
A closer look at the image reveals common indicators of AI-generated visuals. Notably, a watermark linked to Google’s Gemini AI tool appears at the bottom-right corner, suggesting artificial creation rather than an authentic photograph.
Further verification using AI-detection tools also returned high-confidence probabilities that the image was generated synthetically.
The viral photo claiming to show Pakistan captain Salman Agha ignoring a handshake with Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav is not real. It is an AI-generated image. While the captains did not shake hands at the toss, the circulating photo is fabricated.
Therefore, the claim is false.
