Old video shared to claim Bangladeshi cricketer jostled by crowd after World Cup loss

By: Umme Kulsum
November 24 2023

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Screenshots of X posts claiming Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan was ill-treated at Bangladesh airport for performance at 2023 ICC Men's World Cup. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

What's the claim?

Bangladeshi cricketers faced criticism for their dismal performance in the recent ICC Men's World Cup 2023, as their team clinched only two victories out of the nine matches they played. Days after Bangladesh's exit from the tournament, a video clip of a crowd physically confronting skipper Shakib Al Hasan and grabbing his collar started circulating on social media. A post on X (formerly Twitter) shared the video with the caption, "Shakib Al Hasan beaten up by Bangladeshi Cricket Fans at the airport for team's poor performance in ICC World Cup tournament." The post was viewed more than 3,33,000 times at the time of publishing. Archived versions of the post and similar others can be viewed here and here.

The video also gained traction on other platforms, including Facebook. A user on Facebook shared the same clip with the caption, "This happened to Shakib ul Hassan when he returned to Bangladesh after poor World Cup campaign. People of sub continent should watch less Cricket because they lose their marbles after defeat. (sic)" An archived version of the post can be accessed here.

Screenshot of a social media post sharing the video with false claims. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

What did we find?

Using a reverse-image search, we established that the video dates back to March 2023 and is unrelated to the ICC Men's World Cup 2023 held in India in October-November 2023.

Logically Facts found several news reports from March 2023 that carried visuals of Al Hasan wearing the same attire as seen in the viral video. A Free Press Journal report featured a Facebook video shared by a user in March 2023. The post, with a caption in Bangla, stated, "This is what I saw. How Bangladesh superstar Shakib Al Hasan is being treated! Alas money (translated from Bengali)." The report added that the video clip was shot when the cricketer attended a promotional event held in Dubai in early 2023. A controversy erupted after Al Hasan inaugurated a gold jewelry store owned by a murder accused, the report said.

Following the event, the chief of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) reportedly said that Al Hasan would be interrogated for the investigation for attending Arav Khan's jewelry shop opening event in Dubai. Arav Khan, also known as Robiul Islam, is a suspect in a murder case involving a Bangladeshi police inspector.

A Dhaka Tribune report, published on March 17, carried an image that captured scenes similar to those in the viral video, featuring Al-Hasan in the same black-and-white patterned shirt. Furthermore, RTV News, a Bangladesh-based channel, uploaded a video of the showroom opening on its YouTube channel on March 16. The video captured the exact frames from the viral footage showing Al-Hasan scurrying away from the scene where he was manhandled.

Video of the incident was uploaded on YouTube in March 2023. (Source: YouTube/ RTV news)

The verdict

The viral video is over seven months old and was taken when the Bangladeshi cricketer was in Dubai to inaugurate a jewelry store. The incident has nothing to do with the recent World Cup tournament. Therefore, we have marked this claim false.