Rahma Shah (Image credit: Zimbabwe Cricket)
New Delhi: A social media post shared by Rahmat Shah sparked widespread confusion and panic among cricket fans after many wrongly believed that the Afghan batsman had died. The confusion began when Afghanistan all-rounder Karim Janat shared a condolence message on Instagram along with a picture of Rehmat Shah and a note written in Pashto.Shortly after the post appeared online, a machine translation on Instagram incorrectly indicated that Rahmat Shah himself had died.
Fans were shocked and many social media users started posting condolence messages for the cricketer.However, the reports were completely false. Rahmat Shah is alive. The condolence message was actually about the death of Rehmat Shah’s mother, not the cricketer himself.The confusion arose due to Instagram’s machine translation feature, which mistranslated Janat’s Pashto message. Machine translation reads:“It was with great sadness that I heard the news of the passing of Rahmat Shah, the legendary player of the Afghanistan national cricket team. This great tragedy saddened me and all cricket fans deeply.
As a cricketer, I extend my deepest sympathy and condolences to Rahmat Shah and his family. We ask God to grant the deceased a place in Paradise, illuminate his grave, and give his family patience through this great grief. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return,” reads the machine translation of Karim’s Instagram post.However, the translation was inaccurate and completely changed the context of the original Pashto message.
The correct translation of Jannat’s post is:“I heard the news of the death of the respected mother of Rahmat Shah, a talented player in the national cricket team. This great tragedy saddened me and saddened all cricket fans. On my own behalf and as a cricketer, I extend my deepest condolences and sympathy to Rahmat Shah and his honorable family. May God grant paradise to the deceased, fill her grave with light, and give her family patience to bear this great grief.
We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.”
Rahmat Shah last played for the Afghanistan national cricket team in an ODI match against the Bangladesh national cricket team in October last year, where he retired injured during the match.The experienced batsman represented Afghanistan in 11 Tests, 125 ODIs and one T20I, scoring more than 5,000 ODI runs during his career.