Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday condemned a fake video circulating on social media in which a comment praising Pakistan’s diplomatic response to the boycott of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was mistakenly attributed to him.An AI-generated video shared on X by a Pakistani user showed Tharoor allegedly saying:”I think Pakistan played really well. I don’t know what they will do on the field, but what they did diplomatically was absolute brilliance and the Indian cricket board was completely transfixed. Shut up. “This is a lesson that good diplomacy can make even a weak country look like Goliath, and Pakistan did that, so I want to thank them, but that is unthinkable.”The fake video was captioned as, “Pakistan nailed India, says Shashi Tharoor, ‘Pakistan deserves recognition for taking a bold stance’ in ICCT20 World Cup 2026.”Tharoor declared that the video was fake, stressing that neither the language nor the voice was his. “AI-generated ‘fake news’ and it’s not very good. So is my language and my voice,” Shashi Tharoor wrote in the post.Indeed, he previously criticized Pakistan’s decision to boycott the group stage match against India on February 15, calling it “pretty shameful” and criticizing the increasing politicization of cricket. He called on all parties to urgently engage in dialogue to resolve the escalating conflict.Tharoor’s remarks came after Pakistan announced that they would miss the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match against India on February 15. The Pakistani government confirmed the decision in a post on X, saying the team would “not participate” in the match against India.
