Fact Check: Video of Afghanistan players chanting Vande Mataram is edited

Afghanistan cricket team created history when they reached the semi-final of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Despite their remarkable run, they were defeated by South Africa, who made their maiden entry into the men's World Cup final.

Amidst this, a video allegedly showing Afghanistan players chanting 'Vande Mataram' has been making the rounds on social media. The accompanying claim suggests that the Afghan players chanted 'Vande Mataram' after India defeated Australia by 24 runs in Group 1 of the Super Eight.

An X handle shared the video with the caption, “Afghanistan beat Bangladesh to enter semi-finals. Afghanistan players had raised the slogan of Vande Mataram on India's victory, so many congratulations to them too for the victory.” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false, as the video was edited. The original footage shows Afghan players chanting 'Allah-hu Akbar.'

Upon conducting a reverse image search of the video's keyframe, we found the original video posted on X by Afghan player Mohammad Nabi on October 23, 2023. It depicts the players chanting 'Allah-hu Akbar' in response to the call of ‘Nare Takbir.’

Nabi in the caption stated a celebration of a long-awaited victory over Pakistan in the cricket battle.

We also found the original video posted by Nabi on his verified Instagram account on the same date congratulating Afghanistan.

According to media reports from October 23, 2023, Afghanistan defeated Pakistan by eight wickets in the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023. This victory marked Afghanistan's first ODI win against Pakistan in eight attempts.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video is edited. The claim of Afghan players chanting 'Vande Mataram' after India defeated Australia is false.