India Vs South Africa: Did MS Dhoni Present Virat Kohli ‘Player Of The Series’ Trophy?

Claim

A viral image claims to show former Indian cricketer MS Dhoni presenting the ‘Player of the Series’ trophy to Virat Kohli at the conclusion of the India vs South Africa ODI series.

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Fact

A Google keyword search for MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Player of the Series award did not yield any credible reports, updates or official statements from BCCI or any media outlets stating that Dhoni presented the award to Kohli.

A reverse image search of the viral photograph led us to a report by Jansatta, featuring an original image of Kohli receiving the Player of the Series award after the final ODI. In the original image, Dhoni is not present. 

A comparison between the original photograph and the viral version can be seen below.

To verify further, we analysed the viral image using multiple AI-detection tools.

• Hive Moderation returned a 95.4% likelihood of AI-generated or deepfake content.
• Decopy AI and Undetectable AI also flagged the image as likely AI-generated.

On careful analysis of the photo, we also spotted a watermark of Gemini AI on the bottom right side. 

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Hence, the viral image showing MS Dhoni presenting ‘Player of the Series’ trophy to Virat Kohli is AI-generated/modified. 

Sources
Report By Jansatta, Dated September 7, 2025
Hive Moderation Website
Decopy AI Website
Undetectable AI Website