Viral video of child skipping over shaking hands with Babar Azam during an event

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan analysed the viral video to trace the original source from where the clip was cut.

Posts from multiple users on social media platform X since December 2, 2024, shared a clip, saying it showed a child seemingly skipping over former cricket captain Babar Azam while greeting and shaking hands with people at an event. However, the video is incomplete and has been trimmed from the start which does show the child shaking hands with the cricketer.

Babar was recently under fire for his declining performance across various platforms of international cricket. The athlete finally announced his decision to step down as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team in October 2024, citing “significant workload.”

It is pertinent to note that he previously stepped down from the post in November 2023, after Pakistan’s dismal showing in the Asia Cup and the 50-over World Cup.

HOW IT STARTED

On Dec 2, an Indian user posted on X a 15-second clip of a child greeting cricketers on a sofa during what appeared to be a wedding event. He appeared to skip over Babar who apparently put out his hand for the child to shake.

The post was captioned: “Even Pakistani kids now knows the status of Zim Babar Azam and treat him accordingly.”

The video was viewed by over 685,000 people.

A Pakistani user also shared the video on X, gaining over 97,000 views.

The video was widely shared by Indian and Pakistani users, as can be seen 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 Babar and his life.

Observing the video showed a watermark of a TikTok account named “ayan.afridi54”.

Searching the videos uploaded on the account yielded the original 19-second full video, dated Dec 2, 2024, that showed that Babar was the first one in the gathering who the child, also the owner of the TikTok account as evidenced from other videos, walked up to and shook hands with.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that a child skipped over Babar while shaking hands with people at an event is misleading.

The original video shared by the child on his own TikTok account showed he shook hands with Babar first and the viral clip was deliberately cut in a way to omit this portion. Sharing an incomplete clip like this to propel narratives against Babar has the potential to misguide the public and cause embarrassment not only for the athlete but also pose a danger to the child who might be subjected to online harassment or bullying in possible retaliation by overzealous fans.

Evidence and References

December 2, 2024, TikTok video:
https://www.tiktok.com/@ayan.afridi54/video/7443425846016101650