Claim
Noted New Zealand cricket commentator Simon Doull said “living in Pakistan is like living in jail” and that he was “mentally tortured during his stint in the Pakistan Super League (PSL)”.
Several verified Twitter handles and media outlets, such as Republic World, DNA and OpIndia, carried reports on the alleged remarks by Doull.
The archived versions of the tweets and articles can be seen here, here, here and here. India Today, too, published a report on the alleged comment, but has removed it. The archived version of the report can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Simon Doull Pakistan jail”, which led us to his Instagram profile, where he calls out news outlets for publishing “false stories made up by fake social media accounts”.
“Please note. Absolutely none of this is true. I loved my time in Pakistan and also loved my time in India. Stop the hatred and vitriol towards one another please. And stop publishing this for your own agenda, you sad people,” his post read.
We also came across several news reports, debunking the viral remarks, seen here and here.
Result: False
Sources
Instagram post, Simon Doull, April 16, 2023
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