Pakistan Captain Babar Azam has been caught up in a bizarre internet scandal, falsely accused of sexting a teammate’s girlfriend after videos and voice recordings went viral online.

While the authenticity of the material was unclear, it allegedly showed a topless Babar in intimate chats with the unnamed woman. Among the accusations – which have been widely reported by Pakistani and Indian publications – was that Babar promised the woman that her boyfriend’s spot in Pakistan’s XI was safe if she kept sexting him.

The accusation was first posted by verified Twitter account Dr. Nimo Yadav, saying: “Babar Azam sexting with the girlfriend of another Pakistan cricketer and promising her that her boyfriend won’t be out of the team if she keeps sexting with him is just. I hope Allah is watching all this.”

Babar was trending on Twitter under the hashtag #StayStrongBabarAzam. But the account, which is a parody page, then deleted the original tweet and apologised to Babar directly.

Hours after dropping the bombshell, Dr. Yadav lashed out at the media for picking up his fake news and reporting it as a genuine sex scandal. “What a clown media we have, Mirror now telecasted a dedicated show based on my satirical tweet and put nasty allegations on Babar Azam without even verifying the source of the news (me),” Dr. Yadav tweeted. “I was the one who started the bf in the team story, this was fake. Apologise to Babar.”

The potential scandal didn’t appear to impact Babar, who posted a happy snap while appearing to be on holiday in Sydney on Monday (16). “Doesn’t take too much to be happy,” he captioned the photo with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

Babar’s captaincy has come under fire recently due to a run of poor performances by Pakistan, who lost 3-0 in a home Test series to England, drew a two-Test series against New Zealand, and then lost 2-1 in an ODI series against the Black Caps. Babar has been embroiled in off-field controversy before. In 2020, a sexual harassment case was filed against Babar but was ultimately withdrawn the following year.