An image showing cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, along with footballer Lionel Messi is being shared on social media, where users have claimed that the five were photographed together during the Mumbai leg of Messi's GOAT Tour.
How do we know?: A reverse image search on the viral image led us to several social media users sharing it, but we noticed that no credible or official source had shared this image.
Additionally, a keyword search showed us that of all the people seen in the image, Messi only met Tendulkar at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium.
The footballer also shared visuals of him with the former cricketer in an Instagram post on his verified account.
We noticed that the viral image was oddly smooth, improperly lit, and showed no shadows, which is indicative of it being generated by AI.
To verify this, we ran it through AI-generated content detectors, such as Hive Moderation and SightEngine.
Hive Moderation showed 99.9 percent confidence in the image being AI-generated.
Similarly, SightEngine, too, said that it was 99 percent likely that the image was an AI-generated one.
Conclusion: An AI-generated image is being shared to falsely claim that footballer Lionel Messi met cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Mumbai.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)