Misleading: Virat Kohli thanked his fans in an emotional speech after hitting a century in the 2022 Asia Cup.

By: Rahul Adhikari
September 20 2022

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Context:

A video of Virat Kohli thanking his fans in a heartfelt speech is doing rounds on social media after the former Indian captain hit his 71st century in the 2022 Asia cup. In the 38-second video, Kohli says, "Hi guys, it's quite surreal to know that so many people love and support me, and they admire what I do. So yeah, I'm feeling very grateful, very thankful, and god's been kind. Thank you so much for all the love and support over so many years. I really really appreciate it." The video is titled, "Watch Virat Kohli's emotional message to fans after hitting century against Afghanistan in Asia Cup."

In fact:

We used reverse image search on the video keyframes. The results led us to an Instagram post shared from Virat Kohli's official handle on February 18, 2020. The former Indian captain had shared a video thanking his fans for his 50 million followers on the social media platform. In the caption, he wrote, "50 million strong on @instagram. Thank you guys for all the love and support." In the video, he said, “Hi guys, so we have reached 50 million on Instagram. It's quite surreal to know that so many people love and support me, and they admire what I do. So yeah, I'm feeling very grateful, very thankful, and god's been kind. Thank you so much for all the love and support over so many years. I really really appreciate it."

Several mainstream media organizations reported this news. According to an NDTV article dated February 18, 2020, Virat Kohli became the first Indian to cross the 50-million followers mark on Instagram.

A clipped video of Virat Kohli's message to the fans for 50 million Instagram followers is now being shared with misleading context. The part where Kohli says, "Hi guys, so we have reached 50 million on Instagram," has been removed to put emphasis on the 71st century by the cricketer.

India beat Afghanistan by 101 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 8, 2022. Virat Kohli smashed a century in international cricket after 1020 days against Afghanistan in India's super 4 match. This was his 71st international century, and now he has joint-second-most centuries in the game's history. Kohli scored the 70 century in a day-night Test match against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in November 2019. Soon after Kohli scored his ton in Asia Cup, social media flooded with congratulatory messages.

The verdict:

A clipped video of Virat Kohli's message to his fans on reaching 50 million Instagram followers in 2020 was misinterpreted as his reaction after he scored his 71st century in the 2022 Asia cup. Hence, we have marked this claim as misleading.