Team India is celebrating after becoming the first side to successfully defend the T20 World Cup title. The Men in Blue also made history by becoming the first team to win the tournament on home soil, defeating New Zealand by 96 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, March 8.
Sanju Samson was named the Player of the Tournament for his outstanding performances, including three consecutive half-centuries that played a key role in India's victorious campaign. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 97 against the West Indies in a virtual quarter-final and followed it up with scores of 89 against England in the semi-final and another 89 against New Zealand in the final.
Meanwhile, Indian batter Shubman Gill faced criticism from fans after posting a "Champions" photo of the team on social media following the T20 World Cup victory. Gill, who was not part of the tournament squad, shared a picture from the trophy podium that did not include Sanju Samson. This drew backlash from fans, who questioned the omission and accused Gill of jealousy and intentionally leaving out Samson despite his crucial role in India's historic win.
The same viral post was shared by many Indian cricket fans which can be seen
The news was also misreported by the Tamil news organisation named
What is the truth?
We ran a reverse image search using the keyframes and we found the same image posted in a Times of India article titled 'Virtually unbeatable': Former England captain reveals the secret behind India's white ball dominance.
Furthermore we checked the Indian ODI team captain Instagram ID and found he posted many photos in which Indian batter Sanhu Samson is clearly seen. The photos can be seen here, here and here
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cllh5LbJ6Z8/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DOl-63JjDGy/
Additionally we also found a tweet by
According to this we deduce that claims circulating online that Shubman Gill deliberately cropped Sanju Samson out of a T20 World Cup celebration photo are false and baseless.
Verification shows that the image was not edited; it was simply taken from a different camera angle, which was also used by several mainstream media outlets. Additionally, Gill has posted other official pictures from the celebration on his social media accounts where Samson is clearly visible.
Conclusion
Claims that Shubman Gill intentionally cropped Sanju Samson out of a ICC Men's T20 World Cup celebration photo are false. The image was not edited but captured from a different camera angle.