This viral photo of Sachin Tendulkar posing in front of Virat Kohli’s portrait at Lord’s is digitally altered
A photo claiming to show former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar posing in front of Virat Kohli’s portrait at Lord’s in England is being widely shared on social media (here, here, and here). It is being circulated with claims that it is a real photo. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The photo shows former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar posing in front of Virat Kohli’s portrait at Lord’s in England.
Fact: The viral photo is digitally altered. In the viral photo, Sachin Tendulkar’s portrait has been replaced with photo of Virat Kohli. The original photo shows Tendulkar at the unveiling of his own portrait at Lord’s. Visual inconsistencies in the viral photo, along with AI analysis, indicate that it is likely AI-generated and possibly a deepfake. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We used relevant keywords on Google to check whether Virat Kohli has a portrait at Lord’s, but found no credible information supporting the viral claim.
On closer inspection, we observed that the frame of the photo looked unusual. Additionally, the text on Kohli’s jersey appeared inconsistent and meaningless, suggesting the photo may have been digitally altered.
We conducted a Google Lens search using a screenshot of the viral photo, which directed us to an Instagram post (archived) by Lord’s Cricket Ground dated 10 July 2025. The post featured a similar photo and mentioned, “A very special morning unveiling the new Sachin Tendulkar portrait in the Lord’s museum. An incredible piece of work by Stuart Pearson Wright.” We also found an X post from Tendulkar, dated 10 July 2025, about the unveiling of his portrait at the Lord’s museum. The official X account of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared photos from the unveiling ceremony of Sachin Tendulkar’s portrait.
We noticed several visual differences between the viral photo and the original one, despite both having the same background setting. A comparison clearly shows that the viral photo is edited.
We then cropped the portrait from the viral photo and analysed it using multiple AI detection tools. One such tool, ‘AI or Not’, concluded that it is likely AI-generated and possibly a deepfake.
According to reports, Sachin Tendulkar’s portrait was unveiled (here, here, and here) at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Museum at Lord’s on 10 July 2025, ahead of the third Test match between India and England. Painted by Stuart Pearson Wright, the portrait is based on a photograph he took at Tendulkar’s home 18 years ago. It will be displayed at the MCC Museum until later this year, after which it will be moved to the Pavilion.
To sum up, this viral photo of Sachin Tendulkar posing in front of Virat Kohli’s portrait at Lord’s is digitally altered.