A fake screenshot of an Instagram story by Indian cricketer Virat Kohli posted in solidarity with the people of Gaza is being shared on social media. The screenshot claims that Kohli dedicated his 49th One Day International (ODI) hundred to those affected by the conflict, but the India TV Fact Check team found that Kohli had not posted any such story on his official Instagram handle.
The screenshot was first posted on Twitter by a verified handle, @rheahhh_, who later claimed that Kohli deleted the story after several users pointed out that it was fake. Other Twitter handles also posted the same screenshot, making the false claim that Kohli had posted in support of Gaza.
The India TV Fact Check team checked Kohli's official Instagram account and did not find any Instagram stories by the cricketer. Instagram stories vanish automatically after 24 hours of the user posting it, but if Kohli's story had been up for at least 19 minutes before being deleted, as claimed by the Twitter handle, there would have been several other screenshots or news reports on it. However, no such reports were found.
The India TV Fact Check team has previously debunked several fake Instagram story screenshots that have gone viral and been falsely claimed to be posted by Kohli. At the time of writing this story, Kohli had not posted anything on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Conclusion
The fake Instagram screenshot of Virat Kohli supporting Gaza is a hoax. The India TV Fact Check team found that Kohli had not posted any such story on his official Instagram handle.
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