An image of Rohit Sharma appreciating ground staff is digitally altered and is being circulated.
Claim
Rating
Explanation
A photo of Rohit Sharma with the ground staff from the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 is viral on social media. The photo shows the ground staff holding a cheque and is shared to claim that Rohit handed the man of the match award to the ground staff. Some of the posts carrying the photo with such a claim can be seen here and here.
What is the truth?
When searching with relevant keywords we found a couple of X posts with similar images. However, these images did not show the cheque as seen in the viral image. One of the posts carrying this picture is captioned “Rohit Sharma thanked the ground staff for their hard work. Let’s salute these hardworking individuals who are doing their utmost to get the game started! Today, the Man of the Match award should go to the Colombo ground staff.”
The same photo with the same caption is also seen posted on the ICC Asia Cricket X account. This image does not include the cheque as seen in the viral image. The hashtags in the post read ‘IND vs. PAK’ and ‘Asia Cup 2023’.
We also found the same image without the cheque on an Instagram fan page for Rohit Sharma. The photo is said to have taken when Rohit Sharma was having a chat with ground staff and when he appreciated them. The same is mentioned in multiple X posts.
The Hotstar feed of India vs. Pakistan match that was held in Sri Lanka on 11, September 2023 also features the visual with no cheque on the hands of ground staff. This proves that the viral image is digitally altered. Moreover, Rohit Sharma was not the man of the match that was held on September 11 but it was Virat Kohli.
Conclusion
It is found that a visual of Rohit Sharma having a chat and appreciating ground staff during India vs. Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 match held on September 11 is digitally altered and is being circulated.
