Multiple social media accounts are sharing a video featuring former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, falsely claiming that former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram died of a heart attack.
The claim is false. Akhtar did not make any such statement, and Wasim Akram has rubbished news of his death.
Claim
On July 4, a TikTok user posted a video in which former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar appears to say: “I regret to inform you that famous cricketer Wasim Akram has died from a heart attack.”
At the time of writing, the video had garnered more than 532,000 views and over 30,000 likes.
Fact
The video is an AI-generated deepfake. Shoaib Akhtar has not made any such statement, and the claim that Wasim Akram has died is false.
The footage of Akhtar used in the viral clip has been online since March 2025, when he commented on the absence of a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) representative during the presentation ceremony at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
That original footage was manipulated using AI and edited to falsely portray Akhtar as announcing Wasim Akram’s death. In the original video, Akhtar makes no mention of Akram.
The original video can be viewed here.
Separately, on July 6, Wasim Akram posted a videoon his Instagram account dismissing AI-generated videos falsely claiming that he had died.
Additionally, the audio from the viral clip was analysed using Hiya, a deepfake voice detection tool. It received an authenticity score of 23 out of 100, indicating that the audio is highly likely to be AI-generated.
Verdict: The viral video is an AI-generated deepfake that falsely depicts Shoaib Akhtar announcing the death of Wasim Akram. The claim is false. Akhtar never made the statement, and Wasim Akram is alive.
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2026-07-10 17:01:00
