This video does not show cricket players offering Namaz in the middle of a match - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 7, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it to be visuals of cricket players offering Namaz during a match. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of cricket players offering Namaz in the middle of a match.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows West Indian and Sri Lankan players lying down on the ground after a swarm of bees entered the ground in Antigua, West Indies. This incident took place during the three-match ODI series between Sri Lanka and West Indies cricket teams in March 2021. The video does not show players offering Namaz on the cricket ground. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals is found in a tweet made by a user on 14 March 2021. This Twitter user reported it as visuals of a bees attack during the West Indies vs Sri Lanka cricket match.
Bee 🐝 attack in #WIvSri#INDvENGt20 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/KgA5as5myR
When we searched for further sources, we found details of this incident in an article published by the ‘India TV’ news website on 15 March 2021. India TV article reported that the third ODI between West Indies and Sri Lanka was briefly halted after a swarm of bees entered the ground in Antigua, West Indies. Sharing a photo showing similar visuals, the article provided a description below the photo stating, “Sri Lanka and West Indies players lie down on the ground after a swarm of bees entered the ground in Antigua.”
Reporting the same, a few other news websites have also published articles in March 2021. They can be seen here, here and here. Pakistan cricket player Muhammad Rizwan offered Namaz on the field a couple of times between drinks breaks during the matches with India and South Africa. But the video shared in the post shows players lying down on the ground because of a bee attack.
To sum it up, an old video showing cricket players lying down on the ground because of a bees attack is shared as them offering namaz.