Fact Check: Tushar Deshpande’s remarks on Rohit Sharma’s wicket are ‘false’

Following the Indian Premier League (IPL) match last Saturday between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI), CSK pacer Tushar Deshpande was rumoured to have ridiculed MI captain Rohit Sharma after taking his wicket during the game.

Several social media posts stated Deshpande claiming that he said it was ‘easy’ to take the MI players wicket in comparison to that of Virat Kohli or former South African cricketer AB de Villiers. The quote which is being circulated reads, "Taking Rohit Sharma's wicket is so easy, he is not someone like Virat Kohli and Ab Devilliers."

News outlets, including NBT Navbharat Times and Maharashtra Times, carried articles on the quote. NBT Navbharat Times headline read, "IPL 2023: Tushar Deshpande spoke more enthusiastically, said- It is easy to dismiss Rohit, he is not Virat or de Villiers"

FACT CHECK:

Deshpande took to his Instagram handle to clear the air on the controversy and termed the viral quote as ‘fake’. He asserted that he had not passed such a statement. The CSK pacer said he has nothing but respect for Rohit and will never say anything demeaning the MI skipper.

“I have absolute respect for all the legends mentioned above. I did not, and would not, make any such demeaning statements. Stop spreading fake news,” Deshpande wrote on his Instagram story.

The fact check team was able to trace the fake quote to a Twitter handle @mufaddel_vohra which was impersonating Mufaddal Vohra - a popular cricket enthusiast. The fake quote was tweeted on April 8, 2023. After being called out, the handle deleted the tweet and changed its profile name. The account had previously mentioned in its profile that it is a parody account.

Mufaddal Vohra also took to Twitter to clarify that the fake quote was not tweeted by him.

Hence, we can conclude that Tushar Deshpande did not ridicule Rohit Sharma or compare him to Virat Kohli and AB de Villier. The viral statement attributed to Deshpande is fake.