A 43-second video of South African cricketer Temba Bavuma making sharp remarks during a post-match presentation was viral after the Indian cricket team’s recent defeat to South Africa in the first Test of the two-match series, held at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, between November 14 and 16, 2025.
In the video, someone asks the South African skipper: “Temba, people tease you by calling you a pocket-sized guy, and making fun of your height. What would you like to say about that?”
To this, Bavuma responds with: “Call me pocket-sized, call me short, call me ‘John the Don’, whatever you want – I don’t care. While you busy giving names for me, I’m out here making history. This so-called ‘bauna’ is the one scoring runs, leading teams and making headlines. Bumrah, you named me ‘bauna’ and people say ‘bauna devta hai’ – so Lord Bavuma is the god.”
X user @Deep_Take001 shared the viral clip on November 19. (Archive)
Crying. 😭pic.twitter.com/fodn37k1NM
— D.⛅ (@Deep_Take001) November 19, 2025
Readers should note that the video went viral after a stump mic picked up Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant using the word ‘bauna’ for Bavuma during an on-field chat during South Africa’s first innings on Day 1 of the Test. This happened when the Indian team was debating whether to go for an LBW review against Bavuma.
The Hindi word ‘bauna’, allegedly used by Bumrah and Pant, means ‘dwarf’. Bumrah also used a Hindi expletive. However, at the end of the match, when South Africa beat India by 30 runs, Jasprit Bumrah was seen with his arms around Bavuma, in what appeared to be an end to the row.
X user @MentionCricket also shared the clip. At the time this article was written, the post had garnered nearly 1 lakh views and was reshared some 1,700 times. (Archive)
The video was also amplified by users @WatcherKashmir, @Shrey__123, @RajasthanVoice and others. (Archives 1, 2, 3) Screenshots below:
The video also went viral on Instagram, with users such as @theindianhunts, @amandeepsaxenavlogs, @cricxashish, @itz_crickworld, and others circulating it amid the controversy that rocked the first day of the Kolkata Test. Screenshots below:
Fact Check
To corroborate the authenticity of the viral clip, we ran relevant keyword searches to check whether any major news outlet had reported on Bavuma’s exchange after the match, but found nothing.
The post-match presentation and speeches are typically shared by official X handles of the cricket teams. However, in this case, we did not find this particular exchange on the handles of the Indian and South African cricket teams. Also, no such footage was available on ESPNCricInfo, where most visuals and media from matches and post-match presentations are available.
We then carefully examined the viral video and noticed a watermark in the top-left corner.
Based on this, we ran a relevant keyword search. This led us to the source of the viral video. It was made and uploaded by Instagram user @sanjit__efx on November 17, 2025. We noticed that the video had over 50 lakh reactions from Instagram users.
View this post on Instagram
On looking closely, we noticed that the sponsor logo, which is visible on Bavuma’s t-shirt in the viral video, is different from the one seen on his jersey during the match. This indicated that the viral video is not from the post-match presentation of the Kolkata Test.
The Macron sportswear brand, whose logo currently features on the South African Test jersey, was roped in as a sponsor in February.
The logo in the viral clip is that of Castore Sportswear, which announced a three-year deal with the South African cricket team in 2021. The deal was mutually terminated in 2023. In September 2023, Lotto Sport came in as the sponsor. This means that the post-match exchange shown in the viral video could have been from any match played by the South African team when Castore was the sponsor — between October 2021 and September 2023.
Also, the backdrop of the post-match presentation in the viral clip shows the logo of the betting agency Betway, which has not sponsored this particular series.
The backdrop of the post-match presentation of the Kolkata Test shows the series sponsors. On the right below is a still from the presentation of the Kolkata Test, featuring Rishabh Pant. This establishes clearly that the two visuals are from different matches and the viral footage was not from the recent Test match between India and South Africa.
We also noticed that the parts in the viral clip where he referred to the ‘bauna’ jibe had footage of his shots while playing, not of him speaking, which indicated the possibility that this may have been a manipulated video wherein old clips were put together and overlaid with AI-generated audio.
To check, we ran the viral video through HIVE’s AI detection tool, which showed a 68% possibility of the clip containing AI-generated audio.
Based on these findings, we were certain that the viral clip, which purportedly shows South African cricketer Temba Bavuma addressing the derogatory jibes levelled at him by Indian players at a post-match presentation, is a manipulated video and likely contains AI audio.
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