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| - Fact Check: Kohli didn't announce party for Pakistan team, his parody account did
Virat Kohli did not roll out the red carpet for Pakistani cricketers for a party at his residence. The viral tweet was made by Kohli's parody account.
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India Today Fact Check
The tweet originated from a parody account mimicking Kohli's official Twitter handle. The cricketer tweeted no such thing.
The Pakistan cricket contingent’s arrival in India on September 27 has already been the subject of disinformation campaigns. Following a manipulated video of people chanting anti-Pakistan slogans at the airport, now there are claims of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli allegedly announcing a party at his residence for the Pakistani players, with special mention of Pakistan all-rounder and vice-captain Shadab Khan.
A Facebook user shared a poster of Kohli's alleged announcement, and wrote, “Pakistan Cricket Team receives a very warm welcome in last night which wins hearts, after 7 Years Pakistan Team landed in India. In a tweet Indian top batsman Virat Kohli welcomes the Pakistan Cricket team and said he is excited to host them to his residence, especially Shadab Khan. Pakistani Players looks confident after arrival to Hyderabad India. and they are very positive to brin the world cup to Pakistan.” An archived version of this post can be seen here.
India Today's investigation found that Kohli made no such tweet about a party for his Pakistani counterparts.
Our Probe
We checked all of Kohli's official social media accounts to see if he had indeed made such an announcement. Upon further probe, we found that the claim originated from a parody account mimicking Kohli's official Twitter account. The parody account's tweet went viral, amassing over a thousand retweets and 14K likes.
The viral tweet from the parody account read, "I warmly welcome Pakistan Cricket Team on their arrival in my country after a long time period of 7 years, I will host a party for my friends, especially for Shadab, at my house. Love you all, always spread love and joy."
Many social media users and the news outlet Free Press Journal fell for it, mistaking it for Kohli’s official account. Notably, the parody account has only 785 followers on Twitter, whereas Kohli's real Twitter account boasts over 58 million followers.
The last tweet from Kohli's authentic Twitter account was on September 27, featuring a photo of the Indian women’s cricket team after winning a Gold Medal in a match against Sri Lanka at the Asian Games 2023.
In conclusion, it is evident that a tweet from Kohli’s parody account was wrongly believed to be authentic.
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