Claim

Pakistani men’s cricket team player and former captain Babar Azam heckled by Pakistani fans during the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy clash against India in Dubai on February 23, 2025 (Sunday).

 The archived version of the post can be seen here, which has clocked 31.5K views at the time of publishing this article.

Fact

Newschecker noticed that Azam’s jersey in the viral video did not match the one worn by the Pakistan team for the ongoing Champions Trophy, suggesting that the video could be from a different tournament or series. We then found videos from Pakistan’s group-stage matches against New Zealand and India, which further confirm that the viral video is not from the ongoing Champions Trophy.

Screengrab of PCB website’s page displaying the team’s official jersey for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to the same video uploaded on X by @JohnyBravo183 on November 17, 2024, stating that Pakistani fans were insulting Babar Azam at the SCG. 

A screengrab of the viral video also showed the digital scoreboard stating that it was the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and that the opposing team was Australia. We learnt that Australia beat Pakistan in a T20I at Sydney on November 16, 2024.

A keyword search for “Babar Azam heckled fans Sydney T20”, led us to multiple news reports, seen here, here and here, stating that former Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who was standing near the boundary rope during Pakistan’s time to field in the first innings of the second T20I between Pakistan and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground, found himself targeted by trolls in the crowd.

Screengrab of TOI report.

“Pakistan batting star Babar Azam was subjected to incessant trolling from spectators present at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the second T20I against Australia on Saturday. In a clip that has gone viral on social media, Pakistan fans were seen heckling Babar, who was stationed along the square boundary by skipper Mohammad Rizwan, asking the former captain “go back to Pakistan” and asking him to “have some shame” for his poor form with the bat,” read a Firstpost report, dated November 17, 2024, sharing the same video, which confirmed that the viral video is from the Pakistan vs Australia T20I clash on November 16, 2024.

Also Read: Fireworks in Varanasi Falsely Shared as “Iconic Celebrations” at Mahakumbh Conclusion