A fake quote is being attributed to Sunil Gavaskar falsely claiming that the former Indian cricketer criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for 'politicising' and 'hijacking' the game of cricket.
The quote went viral after the men's India vs Pakistan cricket match in the Asia Cup 2023 was washed out due to rain on September 2, 2023.
After the match got abandoned, former Pakistan Cricket Board chair Najam Sethi, who took over on an interim basis after Ramiz Raja was sacked as PCB chairman last year, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) criticising the Asian Cricket Council over the scheduling of the match in Sri Lanka. Pakistan was originally scheduled to host the entire tournament, however, due to reservations from BCCI over traveling to the country due to political tensions between India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka was picked as co-hosts.
The X handle Hassan (@hi__hassan) posted a photo of Gavaskar with the caption, "Sunil Gavaskar on NDTV: It should be a matter of utter shame for us as Indians for politicizing, ruining and basically hijacking this beautiful game of cricket. BCCI has let India down and tonight’s results are a testimony of it."
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The same fake quote is also being shared on Facebook with the false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral quote is fake and Sunil Gavaskar did not make any such statement against the BCCI recently after the India vs Pakistan match in the Asia Cup 2023.
Former Indian cricketer Rohan Gavaskar and son of Sunil Gavaskar denied the claim that his father had made any such comment to NDTV against the BCCI. Gavaskar posted on X on September 4, 2023, quote tweeting the viral tweet saying, "This is a completely fabricated statement attributed to my father . He hasn’t made this statement and someone is just trying to create mischief . It’s absolutely ridiculous that people would use his name to get more engagement . Please retweet so that the truth prevails"
Rohan Gavaskar additionally also pointed out that Sunil Gavaskar as a commentator is under contract with India Today and wouldn’t speak to NDTV.
We also checked for recent statements given by Sunil Gavaskar and did not find any such anti-BCCI statement that he made whether on NDTV or India Today which is being attributed to him in the viral post.
On September 2, 2023, during a live India Today broadcast, Sunil Gavaskar brushed aside concerns over the Indian batsman's top-order after it collapsed during the Pakistan match. We watched the 17 minutes India Today interview with Gavaskar and found that he did not cricitise the BCCI or make any anti-BCCI statement as being claimed in the viral post.
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