CLAIM:

Viral video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticising Pakistan for backing out of the upcoming T20 World Cup match against India

RATING JUSTIFICATION:

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to trace the original source of the video and conducted a forensic analysis to authenticate the clip.

Multiple Pakistani accounts and users on social media platform X shared a clip on February 3, 2026, allegedly showing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticising Pakistan for refusing to compete against India in the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, the video is dubbed over with AI-generated audio.

On February 8, 2026, Pakistan announced that it would not be playing its match against India in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled for Feb 15 in Colombo.

HOW IT STARTED:

On Feb 3, a propagandist account, with a history of posting doctored and dubbed videos, shared a video of Modi on X with the following caption: “Breaking news: Prime Minister Modi releases an alarming statement in the wake of upcoming T20 world Cup. ‘Pakistan first invited us to play in Srilanka and when our team went there for the group match, they left us, this is embarrassing.’”

The post gained 133,400 views.

Another account also shared the same video with the following caption: “Pakistan first invited us to play in Sri Lanka, and when our team went there for the group match, they ditched us and left: Modi.”

The post garnered 41,600 views.

The clip was shared and reposted by several other users on X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY:

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the upcoming T20 World Cup matches between Pakistan and India.

A keyword search was conducted to corroborate whether any credible Indian, Pakistani or international media outlets had reported such remarks but yielded no results.

Analysing the clip with AI-detection tool Attestive Video showed that it was flagged as being 71 per cent AI-generated.

Another AI-detection tool, Deepware, flagged the video as an AI-generated deepfake.

A reverse image search yielded the original video of Modi’s speech dated May 12, 2025, on his YouTube account.

In his monologue, Modi talked about the May 2025 conflict between India and Pakistan.

Modi’s speech was also covered by multiple reputable Indian media outlets, such as NDTV, Indian Express, Times of India and India Today, none of which reported any such comments made by him.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticising Pakistan for backing out of the upcoming T20 World Cup is false.

The video is doctored and has been dubbed over through AI.

EVIDENCE AND REFERENCES:

May 12, 2025, Narendra Modi’s YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/live/bXxeQvuYP6o

May 12, 2025, NDTV news article:
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/read-full-text-of-prime-minister-narendra-modi-first-address-to-nation-after-operation-sindoor-india-pakistan-jammu-and-kashmir-pahalgam-terror-attack-8396956

May 13, 2025, Indian Express news article:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/full-text-pm-modis-address-to-nation-on-operation-sindoor-9998549/

May 12, 2025, Times of India news article:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/highlights-from-pm-narendra-modis-first-address-to-nation-after-operation-sindoor/articleshow/121117525.cms

May 12, 2025, India Today news article:
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-modi-address-nation-8-pm-india-pakistan-ceasefire-operation-sindoor-pahalgam-2723574-2025-05-12