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| - Fact Check: Kiwis welcomed with saffron scarves in Kanpur? This is an old picture
Both India and New Zealand are in Kanpur for the first Test scheduled to begin on November 25. A four-year-old picture of New Zealand team players wearing saffron scarves has gone viral.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral picture is from October 2017 when the Black Caps reached Kanpur to play the third ODI of a bilateral series. Saffron scarves were kept at the entrance of their hotel this time too, but were not used to greet the players.
After a disappointing T20 World Cup run, the Men in Blue whitewashed New Zealand in the shorter format of the game on their home turf. Both teams are now in Kanpur for the first Test scheduled to begin from November 25.
Soon after the Black Caps landed in Uttar Pradesh, social media was flooded with a picture of the New Zealand team wearing saffron scarves. Netizens are claiming that this was how the Kiwis were greeted in “Yogi land”.
The accompanying claim in Hindi translates to, “In Kanpur, the New Zealand team was greeted with saffron scarfs. Samajwadi Party leaders have objected to it.”
The archived versions of the posts can be seen here, here and here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found these claims to be misleading. The viral picture is four-years-old.
AFWA PROBE
The most striking factor of the viral image was that none of the players or staff were seen wearing masks. So it can be assumed that the picture was taken in pre-pandemic times.
We reverse-searched the picture and found an article published on November 23 with the same image. The article says Kane Williamson and his men were welcomed in Kanpur with saffron scarves.
The search results also led us to some older articles, one of which was published by Zee News on October 27, 2017.
According to this article, the picture was taken when the New Zealand team arrived at Kanpur for the third ODI of a series. The picture caption says the Kiwis received a traditional welcome upon their arrival in Kanpur.
An “India TV” report dated October 27, 2017, had the full video of the incident. WATCH below:
However, according to the above report, the scarves allegedly had “Yogi” printed on them, which stirred a controversy. This has also evoked a strong response from the Samajwadi Party.
A warm welcome in Kanpur ahead of the first Test against India starting on Thursday. #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/OgwYFR76vP — BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 22, 2021
We then came across a video posted by ANI on November 22 showing both teams entering a Kanpur hotel. In this video, we found saffron scarves kept at the hotel entrance. Though they weren’t used for welcoming the players like last time, a couple of Kiwis were seen giving the saffron-coloured scarves to each other in a playful manner.
It is, however, clear that the viral picture is four years old. It was taken in 2017 when the New Zealand cricket team arrived in Kanpur to play an ODI as part of a series.
(Inputs from Riddhish Dutta in Kolkata)
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