Indian crowd reciting Pakistani national anthem at cricket stadium

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a keyword search to source the video and further investigate its origin.

Posts from multiple users on social media platform X since September 22, 2024, shared a video, claiming that it showed an Indian crowd reciting the Pakistani national anthem in a cricket stadium. However, the video has been dubbed over and actually shows the crowd reciting the Indian national anthem.

HOW IT STARTED

On September 22, a pro-military account shared a video on X showing a huge Indian crowd seemingly reciting Pakistan’s national anthem.

The post’s caption said: “You can gauge the enmity of Afghans towards Pakistan from this video. Thousands of Indians present in the stadium are not only standing up for Pakistan’s anthem but some are even mouthing the words. However, the ungrateful Afghans, who are supposed to be our Muslim brothers, can’t even bear to stand for our national anthem. These Afghans are greater enemies of Pakistan than India.”

This post received more than 62,000 views. The post did not share any other relevant details such as the date and location of the match or what event the match was from.

The video was also shared previously by other users with a similar caption in June 2024 and November 2023, identifying the match as one between Pakistan and New Zealand, and gaining over 49,000 and 664,000 views respectively.

METHODOLGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and because some users pointed out that the national anthem being played in the video was not of Pakistan.

Examining the video itself showed that, unlike the claim in the June 2024 and November 2023 posts, the match was actually one between Pakistan and India since the stadium ground showed the flags of the two nations on the field.

Furthermore, the recitation of the Pakistani anthem did not seem to align with the mouth movement of the Indian crowd.

A keyword search conducted for “cricket”, “National Anthem”, “Pakistan” and “India” yielded the same footage in a YouTube video from an Indian account uploaded on October 15, 2023, and titled: “Proud Moment IND vs PAK: Over A Lakh Fans Singing India’s National Anthem Will Give You Goosebumps”.

The 80-second-long video clearly showed that the Indian crowd was reciting its own national anthem. Pakistan and India faced off at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium on October 14, 2023, in a match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding a video showing thousands of Indian spectators reciting the Pakistani national anthem at a cricket stadium is false.

The video is from the Pakistan-India ICC World Cup clash at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium on October 14, 2023, and actually shows the Indians reciting their own national anthem.

Evidence and References

October 15, 2023, YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phmbw6JqVUE