New Delhi, Jan 22 (Vaidehi Jahagirdar/ Abhinav Gupta, PTI Fact Check): A recent social media post quoted former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel stating that Virat Kohli didn’t want Rohit Sharma to play Test cricketer in his captaincy, fearing that the latter would break his record. However, an investigation by PTI Fact Check Desk found that Patel did not make any such remark, and the social media post was shared with a fake claim.
Virat Kohli served as the captain of the Indian Test cricket team from 2014 to 2022, after MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket. He first took on the role during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia on December 9, 2014.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on January 17 a post, quoting former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel stating that Virat Kohli did not want Rohit Sharma to play Test cricket under his captaincy.
According to the post, Patel stated, “Virat Kohli didn’t want Rohit to play Tests under his captaincy because Rohit was equal to Virat in ODIs and T20Is — 3 double hundreds, 11 hundreds in World Cups, and 5 hundreds in T20Is. Virat was ahead of Rohit only in Tests. He was afraid Rohit would be equal to him in all formats.”
Here is the link and archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same.
Investigation
The Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google and came across a report by a media portal named Cricket Addictor, published on January 18, 2025.
The report mentioned that the former Indian wicketkeeper had disassociated himself from the viral claim, stating it to be false. He clarified that the quote regarding Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma was fake and urged people to verify their sources.
Here is a link to the report, and below is the screenshot of the same.
The Desk also found a social media post by Parthiv Patel. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), the former Indian cricketer said, “I haven’t said this. And this isn’t true either. Please check your sources, because they’re feeding you very false info.”
Here is the link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same.
In the next part of the investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk also reached out to Patel for his remarks and the copy will be updated as soon as we get his response.
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the post bearing a quote from Parthiv Patel is fake.
CLAIM
Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel said that Virat Kohli didn’t want Rohit Sharma to play Test under his captaincy.
FACT
Parthiv Patel did not make any such statement.
CONCLUSION
A social media user quoted former cricketer Parthiv Patel stating that Virat Kohli didn’t want Rohit Sharma to play Tests under his captaincy, fearing that the latter would break his records. However, the Desk found the claim to be fake, as Patel himself denied making such statements.
This story was originally published by PTI . and republished by The Sikkim Chronicle as part of the Shakti Collective
