Picture of cricketer Glenn Maxwell touching Sachin Tendulkar’s feet has been digitally altered

What is the claim? 

Following the ICC Cricket World Cup match between Australia and Afghanistan on November 7, 2023, at Mumbai's Wankhede cricket stadium, a picture purporting to show Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell touching the feet of Indian cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar went viral on social media platforms. 

The caption of one such post shared on X (formerly Twitter) read, “When Sachin Tendulkar came to congratulate Maxwell yesterday on the ground , the great Maxwell bowed down and touched the feet of the legend ,Sachin Tendulkar and asked for his blessings. One of the greatest moments in the history of cricket. Salute to these great cricketers. (sic)” Archives of similar posts containing this image can be seen here, here, and here. 

Screenshots of the viral post. (Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot)

However, Logically Facts has determined that this image is not real and was digitally altered. There are no news reports about Glenn Maxwell touching Sachin Tendulkar’s feet after the match.

What did we find?

By closely observing Sachin Tendulkar’s hand in the viral image, it appears distorted, which is an indication that the image has been digitally manipulated.

After conducting a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video we did not find any similar images where Maxwell was seen touching Tendulkar’s feet.

A Google search of the terms “Sachin Tendulkar” and “Afghanistan v/s Australia” returned several news reports and videos of Sachin Tendulkar from the match which showed Tendulkar wearing the same t-shirt seen in the viral image with Maxwell. 

Screenshot of a Facebook post containing a video of Tendulkar wearing the same t-shirt seen in the viral image. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

By inspecting videos and images from the event we found an image on the stock photo website Getty Images in which Sachin Tendulkar's pose and clothing are almost identical to the viral image. 

In the Getty Images photo, Tendulkar can be seen shaking hands with an Afghan player, and the image’s caption noted that this was pictured on November 6, 2023, at Afghanistan’s training ground at the Wankhede stadium. We compared the viral image with this Getty image and found that these two images of Sachin Tendulkar are very similar.

In the viral video, an Afghan player shaking hands with Tendulkar and Rashid Khan, who can be seen behind Tendulkar, have both been edited out of the picture, and an unrelated image of Glenn Maxwell has been digitally inserted into it. 

Comparison of the screenshots of the viral image and the Getty image. (Source: X/Getty images/Screenshot)

We did not find any reports of Sachin Tendulkar attending the Afghanistan-Australia match in person at the Wankhede stadium. However, Tendulkar did congratulate Maxwell in a post on his official X account on November 8.

The Verdict

The image purportedly showing Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell touching the feet of Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar is digitally altered. The original image of Tendulkar in the viral photo is from the previous day of the match. Therefore, we have marked this claim as fake.