The veteran Pakistan players, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi’s Instagram accounts have been banned in India. The move by the Indian government comes in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which took the lives of 28 civilians on April 22.
Along with the trio, the accounts of Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Imam-ul-Haq were also not accessible to the Indian viewers. Notably, the government also blocked Pakistan’s javelin Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem’s handle, along with those of several Pakistani artists.
Last week, several Pakistani YouTube channels, who earned through the Indian viewers, were also blocked in India.
When users tried to access the cricketers’ accounts, the note read:
Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
It is worth noting that Shahid Afridi was recently involved in a war of words with former Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan. The 39-year-old took aim at Afridi for his comments about the Indian Army, which then received a response from the former Pakistani all-rounder as well.
How are Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan performing in PSL?
Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are currently taking part in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025. They are leading Peshawar Zalmi, Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars, respectively.
Currently, Qalandars are at the second position with four wins in eight games, while Zalmi (two wins) and Sultans (one win) hold the bottom two positions in a six-team table.
Despite Sultans’ disappointing performances, Rizwan is the best batter in the tournament with 346 runs in eight appearances at an average of 69.20. Meanwhile, Babar has so far only hit 117 runs in seven innings at an average of 23.40. Afridi has bagged nine wickets in eight games at an economy of 7.41.
Interestingly, Shaheen Shah Afridi has led Qalandars to two PSL titles (2022 and 2023). On the other hand, Rizwan captained Sultans to a title victory in 2021.
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