Babar Azam trolled after leaked WhatsApp chats and videos, but the scandal is fake

Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam went through a nasty social media backlash on Monday (January 16) when verified parody account from India (Dr Nimo Yadav) posted images of a guy who looked like Babar Aazm sexting with a girl. And within a few hours, media channels went hammer and tongs against Babar Azam without verifying the authenticity of the tweet. 

What was the case: In the tweet, the parody account had uploaded topless images of a guy, who looked like Babar Azam. The caption said: "Babar Azam sexting with GF of another Pakistan cricketer and promising her that her BF won't be out of the team if she keeps sexting him. I hope Allah is watching this."

• Within no time, media channels went after Babar Azam, with even some global media outlets joining in the attack.
• A few hours later, Twitter hashtags like #StayStrongBabarAzam, #IStandWithBabarAzam started trending on Twitter.
• Some fans of the cricketer said that the scandal was part of the campaign to malign Babar Azam, who has come under fire after some poor performances on the field.
• A few Twitter users also said that the tweet was fake and that the person only resembled Babar Azam.

To add more to it, the parody account came up with another tweet saying: "What's wrong if Babar Azam is dating 4 girls at a time and promised everyone for the marriage? In Islam, 4 marriages are legal, he would marry all four of them. Please stop making a fuss about it."

False news: After several media channels covered it, with one even inviting a Pakistani journalist to comment on it, the same parody account revealed that it was indeed all false.

He wrote: "What a clown media we have, mirror now telecasted a show based on my satirical tweet and put nasty allegations on Babar Azam without verifying the source of news (me). Pointing to the news channel, he said, 'This was fake. Apologize to Babar.'"

In another Tweet, he posted clip from another channel and said, "Really feeling sorry for Babar Azam."

Finally, the account deleted the original post and clarified that everything was satirical. Understanding the gravity of the situation, the account said, "I don't go to anyone here to RT or like my tweet in DM. It's not my job [that] media is picking what news. I use Twitter for fun."

Apology: In the end, the same parody account, which initiated this ruckus, apologised to Babar Azam. He said that he had deleted the tweet 'on the request of an Indian cricketer in DM'.

Father comes out in support: While Babar Azam has been silent on this controversy too, his father Azam Siddique had come out in support of him. He posted a picture of him with Babar Azam with a cryptic caption in Urdu saying, "Sakhi ko aleel kon kar sakta hai, Saaqi ko bafi kon kar sakta hai, jisko izzat dena chahe mera rab, us ko zamaane me zaleel kon kar sakta hai. Pakistan zindabad. (Who can make Shafi ill. Who can make Sakhi a miser. Whom my lord wants to honour, Who can humiliate him)"

Not only his father; several fans of Babar Azam also came out in support of him, saying that all these were meant to ridicule Babar Azam.

Babar Azam in troubled waters: Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam is going through a rough phase, both on and off the field. This social media trolling does no more than rubbing salt on his wounds.

In reply, all he did was post a post on Instagram, where he said, "Doesn't take too much to be happy."

On the field, with back-to-back defeats against New Zealand in ODIs and against England in Test series, his captaincy also looks in jeopardy. 

To this, one of his fan commented, "Babar keep moving forward and don't look back cuz you ar ruling the world right now king."