Fact Check: Did Taliban refuse to sponsor Afghanistan cricket team for T20 World Cup 2021?

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is presently taking place in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. A total of 12 teams are competing against each other for the title. Afghanistan has registered excellent performance in the tournament.

On August 29, 2021, the Taliban occupied Afghanistan leading to uncertainty over the future of the Afghanistan team. With this, a social media post was viral, claiming that Afghan Cricket team captain Mohammad Nabi is bearing the entire expenditure of the team because the Taliban refused to sponsor the team for the T20 World Cup.

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A social media user shared the post carrying a collage showing their cricket team captain weeping and the other showing their country’s flag.

The post is captioned, “Did you Know? Taliban refused to sponsor the Afghan Cricket team to #ICC #T20WorldCup2021, Mohammad Nabi came forward & spent his own money to get the Team to the World Cup. He is sponsoring the Afghan Team with his own money. If this isn’t Love with country, then what is?”

Another social media user shared the same post on Facebook with a similar narrative. Netizens further amplified the claim by posting sympathetic messages. A Twitter user wrote, “Appreciation and lots of Love for Afghanistan Team. Nobody knows how they are struggling for the T20WorldCup. Taliban refuse to sponsor Them. Nabi takes care of all the responsibilities of the Team with his own money. #PakvsAfg #AFGvPAK”.

Claim: Taliban refused to sponsor the Afghanistan Cricket Team for the T20 World Cup 2021, and their captain, Mohammad Nabi, is bearing the entire expenditure of the Team.

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Fact Check: It is verified that the claim found to be false. The Afghan Cricket team is sponsored by Sediki Grup- a well-known name in domestic and foreign trade.

Several social media users mentioned that Mohammad Nabi, the Afghan cricket team captain, is sponsoring his Team. However, no such news copies were found. when searched for the official sponsors of the Afghan cricket team, it led to a Twitter post by the Afghanistan Cricket Board on 14 October.

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The post carried a photo of Sediki Grup. It was captioned, “#SedikiGrup officially secures the Afghan National Team’s Sponsorship rights for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Having won as the highest bidder with $450,000.00, Sidiki Grup is the official sponsor of the Afghanistan National Team. More about SG: https://sedikigrup.com”.

When searched for the media reports mentioning that the Taliban has refused to sponsor the Afghan Cricket team, no such finds were found. But we did find a Twitter post by Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban spokesperson and its representative to the United Nations, after the Team registered victories in matches against Scotland and Namibia.

Also, no news reports mention that the Taliban refused the Team’s sponsorship in the T20 World Cup 2021. Therefore, the viral social media message is false.