Fact check: Viral video claiming Shashi Tharoor praised Pakistan Cricket Board is fake

A video of Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor is going viral on social media. In the video, Tharoor is heard praising the Pakistan Cricket Board.

"I think how Pakistan played is indeed brilliant. I don't know what they would do on the field, but what they did diplomatically is absolute brilliance. The Indian cricket board was completely pinned, hands down. This serves the lesson that a good diplomacy can make a weak nation appear as a good one. Pakistan has done it.  I want to appreciate them for it. Its unthinkable" he is heard saying. Screenshot of the viral claim is here.

An archive link is available here.

Fact Check:

The claim is false. Shashi Tharoor has not made any such statement. The viral video appears to be AI-generated.

We examined the claim that Tharoor praised the Pakistan Cricket Board. However, we found no evidence of such a statement being broadcast or published by any credible or mainstream media outlet. Had he made such remarks, they would almost certainly have been reported widely.

To verify the authenticity of the viral video, we conducted a reverse image search using key frames from the clip. his led us to the original footage shared on social media by news agency ANI on February 10, 2025. In the authentic video, Tharoor is seen responding to a question about the India–Pakistan T20 match. 

In the video, Shashi Tharoor says, "I am a politician, but I don't like politics in cricket and sports. I think sports are a different field, a different game. Let politicians do their politics somewhere else, diplomats do their work in diplomacy, and cricket players play their game. I'm happy that at least cricket will move with this match. Who will win, and who will lose, that's another thing..."  

There is no mention of praise for the Pakistan Cricket Board or criticism of the Indian cricket board in the original video. A comparison between the authentic footage and the viral clip clearly indicates that the latter has been altered.

We further analysed the viral video using Deepfake-o-Meter, an AI detection tool. The results indicated that the clip was largely AI-generated, reinforcing suspicions of digital manipulation.

Shashi Tharoor also addressed the viral clip on his social media account, dismissing it as fabricated. He wrote, “This is a fake video created by AI. This is not my voice or my language.”

Therefore, the claim that Shashi Tharoor praised the Pakistan Cricket Board is false. The viral video has been digitally altered. The original footage shows him advocating for keeping politics separate from sports, not endorsing any cricket board.