Pakistani Cricketer Mohammad Rizwan’s Viral Video: Fans Ask, ‘Did He Just Steal Anushka Sharma’s Story?’

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is in the spotlight once again, this time for a rather unexpected reason. Now a new video has sparked controversy. In the clip, Rizwan, dressed in Pakistan's Test whites, appears to be speaking in an interview, but the words he shares have shocked many.

He says, "A different version of you exists in the minds of everyone who knows you. The person you think of as 'yourself' exists only for you, and even you don't really know who that is." These words are strikingly similar to a recent Instagram story posted by Bollywood actress and producer Anushka Sharma.

Photo Credit: PTI

The video, which has been viewed over 6,00,000 times, was shared along with a screenshot of Sharma's story. The poster on X, formerly Twitter captioned it, "Nothing. Just Rizwan reading Anushka's Insta story," which quickly went viral.

Curious users on the platform asked X's in-built AI chatbot, Grok, if Rizwan had indeed "stolen" Sharma's words. The response was that the video was not real, but the poster quickly responded with another video of Rizwan claiming, "What scares me is the fact that people are not able to differentiate real video and AI-generated video." He added, "That video was from India's biggest YouTuber The Convert Indian is obviously fake."

Anushka's original Instagram story has its own philosophical message. She shared that different versions of us exist in the minds of everyone we encounter, from family members to co-workers. The way we perceive ourselves is not the same as how others see us. As she wrote, "A different version of you exists in the minds of everyone who knows you. The person you think of as 'yourself' only exists for you, and even you don't really know who that is."

Her story followed her husband Virat Kohli's recent disappointment with the BCCI's policy limiting family time for players during overseas contests. Sharma's post left fans reflecting on the complexity of personal identity and how it varies for each individual.