Fact Check: Sunil Gavaskar Did Not Criticise BCCI Over Poor Management Of Cricket World Cup 2023

New Delhi, Vishvas News – Many posts are being shared on social media regarding the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. Vishvas News has already investigated some of these misleading and fake posts. Now, the screenshot of a post from X handle is being circulated on social media, claiming that former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the Cricket World Cup 2023. This screenshot is also being shared on other social media platforms.

Vishvas News, in its investigation, found that the viral claim is false. Sunil Gavaskar has not made any such statement during the Cricket World Cup 2023. The user with the handle X, who shared the fake post, has a history of sharing false statements in the name of former cricketer Nasir Hussain.

What’s going viral?

Facebook user ‘Pawan Dixit‘ (Archive) shared the screenshot on October 7 and wrote, “There is a substance in words, but those without a spine will not be able to speak!

“I am ashamed to call myself Indian. This is the worst Cricket World Cup. Empty stadiums, no scoreboard, pathetic management from BCCI,” – Sunil Gavaskar. When you give a high-profile responsibility to a noob like Jay Shah then you can expect this certainly.

Investigation:

To investigate the viral claim, we initiated a Google search using specific keywords. However, no news confirming the viral claim was found during the search. If Sunil Gavaskar had indeed made such a statement, it would undoubtedly have been reported in the media. Furthermore, a thorough examination of Sunil Gavaskar’s official Instagram account yielded no posts that could substantiate the alleged statement.

The viral post in question was posted on the afternoon of October 6, following the commencement of the Cricket World Cup 2023 on October 5. Indian news outlets reported that the inaugural match took place at the Narendra Modi Stadium, where New Zealand defeated England by 9 wickets. Nevertheless, none of these news reports contained any mention to support the viral claim.

Our investigation extended to news articles published on NDTV and Dainik Jagran’s websites, but none contained any reference to the viral statement.

We sought to clarify this matter with Sunil Gavaskar himself. He firmly refuted the claim, stating, “Thanks for asking. This is totally fake. Those who know me know that I will never ever be ashamed to be an Indian. I am and will always be a proud Indian. I was not even in Ahmedabad on the opening day.”

Similarly, Abhishek Tripathi, the sports editor of Dainik Jagran, stated, “Sunil Gavaskar has not issued any such statement. Fake statements are being propagated under his name.”

Subsequently, we searched the profile of the user ASG @ahadfoooty, who had propagated this viral post. Before this incident, this user had already disseminated a fabricated statement attributed to former cricketer Nasir Hussain. In that case, it was falsely claimed that after India’s victory over Pakistan in the T-20 Cricket World Cup 2022 tournament, former England cricket team captain Nasir Hussain accused the umpire of favouring India with his decisions. Nasir Hussain himself requested the removal of the post, denouncing it as false. Our investigation confirmed that Nasir Hussain had not made any such statement. This pattern suggests that the user has a history of sharing deceptive posts in the name of former cricketers intending to tarnish India’s image. The user, affiliated with handle X since May 2018, currently has 2,154 followers.

Conclusion: It is evident that former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar did not make the viral statement criticising the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Tags

• Cricket World Cup 2023
• Indian Cricket team
• sunil gavaskar
• World Cup 2023