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HomeFact CheckFact Check: Virat Kohli Is On Rest Just To Preserve Sachin Tendulkar's...

Fact Check: Virat Kohli Is On Rest Just To Preserve Sachin Tendulkar’s Legacy? Fake Comments Attributed To Adam Gilchrist And AB De Villiers

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.

Courtesy: Lokesh Saini, X Profile

Many X users have posted with the same claim. Those can be viewed by clicking here and here.

Courtesy: ShivSingh_IND & Danny Ocean, X Profile

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.

Courtesy: Deepanshu Saraf, AVI_VK_18, ANSH, Madhu (X Profiles)

The same claim has gone viral on Facebook. Click here and here to see the posts that went viral on Facebook.

Courtesy: It Tips From Arunava & Mani Mc (Facebook profile)

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.

Courtesy: Circle of Cricket & Cricket Addictor

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.

Courtesy: Adam Gilchrist, X Profile

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.

Courtesy: Adam Gilchrist, Instagram Profile

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.


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