Fact-Check: Fake Post Claiming Vimal Pan Masala Partnering up With BCCI Viral

We did not find any credible reports or official announcements to prove the validity of the claim.

Fact-Check: We found no credible reports or announcements about this claim, making it false.  

(Source: The Quint) 

Social media users have shared an image showing Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn with the former Vice-President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Rajiv Shukla has gone viral on social media.

The claim: Those sharing noted that Vimal Pan Masala (Devgn is the brand's ambassador) was anticipated to be a potential sponsor for the BCCI contract, with the agreement expected to extend until 2028.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false. We did not find any credible reports or official announcements by the board about the same.

• Additionally, the viral image is AI-generated and not real.

What we found: At first, we ran a Google reverse image search on the viral image, but did not find any credible reports or announcements by the board about the same.

• We checked the BCCI website under 'Our Partners' section but did not find the 'gutkha' company.

Here is a screenshot of the page. 

(Source: BCCI/Screenshot) 

• Under their press releases section, it had no notification about onboarding Vimal Pan as their partner.

About the image: We could not find the source of the image, as well.

• We, then, ran it on AI-detection website Hive Moderation, and found the image was 71.7% AI-generated.

Here are the results by Hive Moderation. 

(Source: Hive Moderation) 

Some context: The BCCI has formally ended its ₹358 crore jersey sponsorship agreement with fantasy-gaming platform Dream11 following the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which prohibits real-money gaming sponsorships, making the continuation of that partnership legally untenable, reported NDTV.

• The news outlet reported that two companies, Toyota Motor Corporation and a Fintech start-up, have shown interest in becoming the Indian cricket team's title sponsor.

Conclusion: A fake post has gone viral on social media, falsely claiming that Vimal Pan has collaborated with the BCCI as their sponsor.

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