A photo is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows an Afghanistan cricketer who passed away recently. His name is Muzammil Bota. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo shows Muzammil Bota, an Afghanistan cricketer who passed away recently.
Fact: While it is true that the name of the person in the photo is Muzammil Bota, he is not an Afghanistan cricketer. He is a kabaddi player from Pakistan. It is reported that he passed away recently. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
A logo with the name – ‘Thru Media’ can be seen on the photo. The uncropped version of the same photo can be found on the ‘Thru Media’ social media page. On reading the comments on that post, it was found that he is Muzammil Bota, a kabaddi player from Pakistan. The ‘International Kabaddi Club’ Facebook page has also made a lot of posts regarding the death of Muzammil Bota. Those posts can be seen here, here, and here.
Sohail Imran, a Sports correspondent for Geo TV network, tweeted saying – “ Sad news: According to Pakistan Kabaddi Federation, International Kabaddi player Muzamil Botha has passed away due to heart attack” (translated). The other posts regarding the death of Muzammil Bota can be seen here, here, here, and here. All those reports referred to him as a kabaddi player from Pakistan, not a cricketer from Afghanistan.
To sum it up, the person in the posted photo who passed away recently was a kabaddi player from Pakistan, not an Afghanistan cricketer.
