A statement comparing Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli is being attributed to former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist.
The claim states that Gilchrist said, "Kohli is being rested on a regular basis these days, I think they want Sachin’s record to be unbeaten."
We also found claims where the same statement was attributed to former South African cricketer AB de Villiers.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
(Archives of similar posts can be seen here and here.)
What's the truth?: Gilchrist dismissed the viral claims.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify that he did not make this particular statement about Kohli and Tendulkar.
The same fake quote has been linked to de Villiers, but we were not able to find any credible report to prove that he made that statement.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search and found news reports about this statement.
Several sports-related news outlets like Cricket Addictor and Circle of Circket reported on Gilchrist calling out this fake quote.
We also found Gilchrist's X account, where he replied to a viral claim and said, "Never said this."
What about Villiers?: Since the exact quote has been linked to two cricketers, it is most-likely fake.
Additionally, we looked for news reports for de Villiers quote on Kohli but were unable to find any credible report.
We have reached to de Villiers, and the story will be updated once we receive a response.
Why the comparison between Kohli and Tendulkar?: Recently at the 2023 Asia Cup, Kohli scored his 47th century in One-Day Internationals (ODI) against Pakistan.
If Kohli manages to get two more centuries under his name, he will match Tendulkar’s record.
Kohli didn't feature in some of the matches during the Asia cup and the hence, viral statement insinuates that Kohli has not been playing as much because there might be a possibility of him breaking Tendulkar's record with just three more centuries.
Conclusion: Clearly, a fake statement about Kohli and Tendulkar has been attributed to former Australian cricketer Gilchrist and former South African cricketer de Villiers.
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