Virat Kohli’s statue at New York’s Times Square is not real, it’s CGI

This statue is not real but was created using CGI and was part of an advertisement by mattress company Duroflex.

The ICC T20 World Cup victory celebration is buzzing all over the internet. Meanwhile, a video and an image are widely circulating on social media claiming that the statue of Indian cricketer Virat Kohli has been installed in New York’s Times Square. The image shows a massive golden-plated statue of Virat Kohli is visible in Times Square, and the Duroflex Mattress promotional boards are all around this location. The caption of the post states, Virat Kohli statue in Times Square, New York #T20WorldCup2024 Winner India

So let’s verify what the facts are.

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Fact Check- 

We began our investigation with a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a video shared on the social media handles of bedding company Duroflex. The star cricketer is wearing a cricket pad on its feet and holding a bat in its hand, it was uploaded on 23 June 2024. 

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We noticed that the caption featured the hashtag #CGI. Virat Kohli is the brand ambassador of Duroflex since May 15, 2023 and has featured on several of their posts and ad campaigns. This video has been released as part of their campaign ‘Duroflex on King’s Duty’

Duroflex uploaded this video on its official Instagram channel also, we saw that the caption featured the hashtag #CGIanimation. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a technology that uses computer graphics to create images or videos.

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We also came across an article by the Indian Express regarding this, which you can be read here. From these evidences, it is clear that Virat Kohli’s statue in the viral image is a computer-generated image.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the viral image to be False. This statue is not real but was created using CGI and was part of an advertisement by mattress company Duroflex.