Authors
Claim
“Kohli is being rested on a regular basis these days, I think they want Sachin’s record to be unbeaten.” – Adam Gilchrist
Fact
Fake comments attributed to former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist and former South African cricketer Ab De Villiers.
Virat Kohli had scored his 47th century in One-Day Internationals against Pakistan in the recently held Asia Cup. Kohli is now just two short of trying Sachin Tendulkar for the most ODI centuries. Amid all these a viral post claims that former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist has said that- “Kohli is being rested on a regular basis these days, I think they want Sachin’s record to be unbeaten.” The viral post can be viewed by clicking here.
Many X users have posted with the same claim. Those can be viewed by clicking here and here.
Furthermore, some users have attributed the same viral comment to former South African cricketer AB De Villiers. They can be viewed by clicking here, here, here and here.
The same claim has gone viral on Facebook. Click here and here to see the posts that went viral on Facebook.
Fact Check / Verification
In order to ascertain the fact of the viral quote, we conducted a key-word search and it yielded several news articles published on September 20, 2023, which reported that Adam Gilchrist had refuted the false statement linking him to Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. The reports can be read here and here.
Next, we visit Adam Gilchrist’s verified X (Twitter) account (@gilly381) and discover a post where the former cricketer discredits the viral statement, re-posting that he never made such a statement. The post can be viewed by clicking here.
Nevertheless, during our verification process, we found a video shared on Adam Gilchrist’s Instagram profile on September 15, 2023. In the video, Gilchrist asks former English cricketer Michael Vaughn whether Virat Kohli has the potential to surpass Sachin Tendulkar. In this fun video Michael Vaughan says Virat Kohli can’t be considered a great like Sachin Tendulkar until he gets a century in the Yorkshire leagues. However, nothing more can be learned from the video.
Subsequently, we initiated a search to confirm the authenticity of the posts containing the viral quote attributed to former South African batsman AB De Villiers. Our initial inquiry included a search of the cricketer’s Twitter and Instagram profiles, where no comments regarding the matter were found. Newschecker then proceeded to contact the cricketer’s team member Edwards De Villiers, via telephone. In response, he asserted that AB De Villiers had not made any such comments on neither Virat Kohli nor Sachin Tendulkar.
Conclusion
Former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist and former South African cricketer Ab De Villiers did not comment on Virat Kohli being given a break from playing matches to keep Sachin Tendulkar’s record intact. Both the claims that went viral have been found to be false.
Results: False
Our Sources:
1. X post by Adam Gilchrist, dated September 20, 2023
2. Instagram post by Adam Gilchrist, dated September 15, 2023
3. Reports by Circle of Cricket & Cricket Addicted, dated September 20, 2023
4. Telephonic conversation with Edward De Villiers.
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form.
