India Vs Pak WCL Row: Old Photos Of Ajay Devgn Meeting Shahid Afridi Shared As Recent

Claim

A set of images claiming to show actor Ajay Devgn interacting with former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi, two days after an India vs Pakistan match in the World Championship of Legends (WCL) was called off due to tensions between the two countries.

The archived version of the post can be seen here, which has clocked 154.8K views so far. Users mocked Devgn for his hypocrisy, saying, “If a Muslim actor did this, bhakts would’ve screamed ‘anti-national’ from rooftops. But since it’s Ajay Devgan, they’ll now promote his movie like it’s a national duty. Deshbhakti depends on religion, not action.”

India Withdraw From Pakistan Match

After a massive social media backlash questioning Indian players for playing against Pakistan two months after the Pahalgam attack, the organisers cancelled Sunday’s fixture at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Afridi strongly criticised Indian players for backing out of the match in the second edition of the WCL, co-owned by Devgn. Multiple players from the Indian team had reportedly opted out due to the presence of Afridi, who had made some problematic statements against India during the cross-border tensions.

Fact Check

Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Ajay Devgn meets Shahid Afridi,” which led us to multiple news reports, including NDTV, News18, MoneyControl, Hindustan Times and Times of India, stating that the viral photos are actually from the 2024 edition of the WCL when Devgn went to witness the final match of WCL 2024 at Edgbaston in Birmingham between India Champions and Pakistan Champions, which was won by the former.

“While people think that these photos are from WCL 2025, these photos are actually from WCL 2024, much before the Pahalgam attack and rising tensions between India and Pakistan. Ajay is the co-owner of the tournament and hence he was present at the inaugural season last year in Edgbaston. India won the final against Pakistan during that tournament,” read the Times of India report, dated July 21, 2025.

 A further search led us to this InsideSport X post, dated July 6, 2024, sharing the same images, further confirming that they are old and not taken amid the ongoing controversy. News reports on the brief encounter from July 2024 can be seen here and here.

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Source
InsideSport post, X, July 6, 2024