Archive · 4 Sep 2026
Fact Check: Viral Video Misrepresented Smriti Mandhana’s Fan Interaction
A video showed Smriti Mandhana meeting fans after a cricket match.
Some people thought she refused to take selfies with them.
The video shows fans handing their phones toward her.
Mandhana did not take the phones, but she asked fans to use the phones themselves.
She continued posing for their pictures.
She also signed caps and T-shirts.
This happened after she scored 124 runs against Hong Kong.
The fact-check said the video was being interpreted incorrectly and rated the claim misleading.
A viral video led some fans to accuse Smriti Mandhana of refusing selfies and acting arrogantly.
The footage reportedly followed Mandhana’s match-winning 124 against Hong Kong in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026.
Mandhana crossed the boundary line to sign fans’ caps and T-shirts.
When fans extended phones for her to hold, she gestured for them to take selfies themselves.
The fact-check rated the claim misleading, saying Mandhana posed for fans rather than refusing interaction.
- Who
- Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana and fans in the stadium.
- What
- A viral video was interpreted as Mandhana refusing selfies, but the fact-check says she asked fans to take the selfies themselves while she posed.
- When
- After Mandhana’s match against Hong Kong in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026, reportedly on Thursday.
- Where
- Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
- Why
- Fans extended their phones for Mandhana to hold, while she preferred that they keep the devices and take the selfies themselves.
Viral Interpretation
Fact-Check Finding
Did Mandhana refuse selfies?
Viral Interpretation
Some social-media users claimed Mandhana denied selfies and described her as arrogant or unwilling to interact with fans.
Fact-Check Finding
The fact-check says she did not refuse selfies; she asked fans to take the photos themselves while she posed.
Meaning of not taking phones
Viral Interpretation
Fans interpreted Mandhana’s refusal to touch the extended phones as rejecting the selfie requests.
Fact-Check Finding
The footage is described as showing Mandhana keeping the phones with the fans while continuing to pose and interact.
- Fact-check verdict
- Misleading
- Player
- Smriti Mandhana
- Reported innings
- 124 against Hong Kong
- Event
- Women’s Asia Cup 2026
- Location
- Dubai International Cricket Stadium
- Fan interaction
- Mandhana signed caps and T-shirts and posed for fans
- Selfie issue
- She did not take the phones but gestured for fans to take their own selfies