Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
Claim
An image of a young Virat Kohli receiving a prize from Rishi Sunak.
The image has been shared on Facebook with the caption ‘#RishiSunak with #ViratKohli’.
Fact
We started our investigation by conducting a reverse search of the image on Google and found a report by NDTV uploaded on their website on 2nd November, 2017 titled ‘Ashish Nehra And Virat Kohli’s Old Pic Makes Twitter Nostalgic.’
The report states many people on Twitter are sharing a photo of Ashish Nehra, who was returning from the 2003 World Cup, giving an award to a very young Virat Kohli.
Newschecker also found several other media reports which state that the man in the image is Ashish Nehra giving an award to a 13 year old Virat Kohli. The reports can be seen here and here.
Upon conducting a keyword search with the words “Ashish Nehra” and “young Virat Kohli”, we found an interview given by Ashish Nehra to the Mint uploaded on their website on 28th January, 2016 titled ‘Fast bowling is 75% body and fitness: Ashish Nehra’.
In the interview Ashish Nehra states recalling the picture “Oh, that picture I vividly remember. That is after the 2003 World Cup, when Raj Kumar Sharma (Virat Kohli’s coach) had invited me to his academy.”
Thus it is clear that the man in the image giving the prize to a young Virat Kohli is Ashish Nehra and not British PM Rishi Sunak.
Most users shared the image with a smiling/laughing emoticon leading us to believe that the images were shared as satire.
Result: Satire
Our Sources
Report by NDTV on 2nd November, 2017
Report by Indian Express on 3rd November, 2017
Report by Free Press Journal on 30th May, 2019
Report by Mint on 28th January, 2016
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
