Did Mehidy Hasan Miraz Cover a Betting Logo on His LPL Jersey? The Full Story Behind the Viral Photos

Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel

When Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz walked onto the field for his LPL 2026 debut wearing a Galle Gallants jersey with something taped over a sponsor logo, social media did what it does best: it ran in two different directions at once. Across Sri Lanka, Tamil-speaking audiences saw a satirical meme with an edited photo mocking the situation. Across Afghanistan, Facebook users circulated posts with an equally inaccurate claim that Miraz had plastered stickers all over his jersey and helmet. Both versions were misleading. Fact Crescendo investigated the original incident and the edited photographs circulating in its wake.

What Was Claimed

Version 1: “Stickers All Over Jersey and Helmet” Claim

Across South Asian Facebook communities including those reaching Afghan and Pakistani audiences, multiple posts circulated claiming that Miraz had placed stickers all over his jersey and helmet in the way depicted in the viral photographs. Three representative Facebook posts making this claim:

Facebook post 1 (archived) | Facebook post 2 (archived) | Facebook post 3 (archived)

🔗 Also published by Fact Crescendo: Fact Crescendo Afghanistan (Pashto) — Mehdi Hasan Miraz did not place stickers as shown in the viral photo

Version 2: The Sri Lanka Tamil Satirical Meme

A Facebook post uploaded on 19th July 2026, archived here, circulated widely on Sri Lankan Tamil social media bearing the satirical caption: “No way to stitch a jersey — plenty of talk though!” The post used an edited image of Miraz and attracted thousands of shares from users who understood it as genuine.

What Actually Happened: The BABU88 Betting Logo

Both versions of the viral claim misrepresent the same underlying incident. The sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) opened on Friday, 17th July 2026, with a match between defending champions Jaffna Kings and Galle Gallants. During that match, Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz, playing for Galle Gallants, was seen on the field with a sticker covering the BABU88 logo on his jersey. BABU88 is an online betting and gambling platform that serves as a jersey sponsor for Galle Gallants in the 2026 LPL season.

As BDCricTime reported in a dedicated piece, Miraz drew considerable praise for this decision. He covered only the specific BABU88 betting logo on his jersey, staying true to his personal and religious values. Covering a gambling or alcohol sponsor logo is a personal religious choice consistent with Islamic values, and it is a practice that leagues and teams around the world have formally accommodated.

In the same opening match, Pakistan’s left-arm medium-fast bowler Aqib Javid also covered a particular logo on his jersey, indicating the decision reflected the personal convictions of the individual Muslim players involved, not any dispute with the team or organizers.

What Happened Next: The Scene Changed in One Day

By the following Sunday, 19th July 2026, the situation had changed. Mehidy Hasan Miraz played in the next match with the BABU88 logo fully visible on his jersey, without any covering. Cricket media account CricFrenzy documented this on Instagram, publishing a side-by-side comparison of Miraz in both matches with the caption: “In one day the scene changed — Miraz today did not cover the betting sponsor logo.”

Miraz did not feature in Galle Gallants’ third match in the tournament.

The Viral Photographs Were Digitally Edited

The specific images circulating in both the Sri Lanka Tamil meme and the regional sticker-on-jersey-and-helmet posts had one thing in common: they were not authentic match photographs. When Fact Crescendo compared the viral images against verified match footage and official photographs, the digital manipulation was clearly visible.

The viral images showed stickers placed in an exaggerated manner across the jersey and, in some versions, the helmet, in a way that did not correspond to actual match footage from either LPL game. The authentic match photographs and the official LPL YouTube channel footage showed only a single BABU88 sticker placed on the logo location of the jersey. The viral versions had been altered to make the covering appear far more extensive than it was, which is what drove the satirical meme as well as the more earnest “stickers all over” claim.

Why Muslim Cricketers Cover Sponsor Logos: The Wider Context

The practice of Muslim cricketers covering or requesting the removal of betting and alcohol brand logos from their jerseys is well-established in professional cricket and predates the LPL. Both types of sponsor logos conflict with Islamic values: alcohol is prohibited in Islam, and gambling/betting is similarly forbidden. Players observe this restriction at a personal level, often with the full knowledge and support of their teams.

In the IPL, this was formally documented as early as 2019, when, as the New Indian Express reported, Muslim players were granted official permission to play in jerseys without liquor sponsor logos. In IPL 2021, as the Times of India reported, Chennai Super Kings specifically allowed England all-rounder Moeen Ali to remove a liquor brand logo from the team jersey. BABU88 is a betting and gambling platform, which falls into the same category of sponsorship that religious Muslim players regularly decline to publicly display.

What Mehidy Hasan Miraz did in the first LPL 2026 match was consistent with this established practice across world cricket. That he subsequently played without the covering in the second match suggests the matter was resolved through a separate arrangement between the player, the team management, and possibly the sponsor. None of this constituted a controversy over jersey manufacturing, and the satirical meme circulating in Sri Lankan Tamil social media entirely fabricated that angle.

Follow Us on Social Media

Conclusion

Two distinct but related pieces of misinformation spread across South Asian social media in the opening days of LPL 2026. In Sri Lanka, Tamil social media users shared a digitally edited photograph with a satirical caption falsely implying that an LPL player had complained about being unable to get a jersey stitched. Across South Asia and regional Facebook communities, other posts claimed that Mehidy Hasan Miraz had plastered stickers all over his jersey and helmet. Both claims were based on manipulated images and misrepresented what actually happened.

What actually happened was this: Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Bangladesh’s ODI captain playing for Galle Gallants in LPL 2026, chose to cover the BABU88 betting logo on his jersey during the tournament’s opening match on 17th July 2026, a religious practice consistent with Islamic values and well-precedented in professional cricket. Teammate Aqib Javid also covered a logo in the same match. By 19th July, Miraz was playing with the logo fully visible. The viral images that circulated on both issues were digitally altered and did not represent authentic match photographs.

Dear readers, please do not share unverified news, photographs, or videos without first confirming their authenticity. In such situations, contact us on our WhatsApp number (+94771514696) to verify the authenticity of similar claims before sharing them.