Old video of Rohit Sharma shared claiming skipper responds to Bangladesh cricketer Al Hasan

The men's Cricket World Cup 2023 is set to commence on October 5. The month-and-a-half-long tournament will conclude on November 9. All participating teams have arrived in the host country, India, and are currently playing warm-up matches. 

Amid the preparations, a controversy unfolded when Bangladeshi opener Tamim Iqbal was dropped from the team’s World Cup squad on September 26. According to reports by Bangladeshi media, internal conflicts within the team played a significant role in Iqbal’s exclusion. In response, Iqbal took to social media, posting a video expressing dissatisfaction with the cricket board's decision. The opener claimed his refusal to bat down the order strained his relationship with the board. 

On this matter, Bangladeshi skipper Shakib Al Hasan hit out at Iqbal, citing Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma as an example. During an interview with Bangladeshi media outlet T Sports on 27 September, he said, “Look at someone like Rohit Sharma. He built his career from No. 7 to opener, scored 10,000-plus runs. If he sometimes bats at No 3 or 4, would it be a big problem? It is totally childish. It is my bat, I will play.”

What is the claim?

A video featuring Sharma has been circulating on social media, claiming that the Indian skipper responded to Al Hasan's comments amid the controversy. The caption of one such post in Bengali read, “Rohit Sharma responds to Shakib's comments on Tamim.” The video in the post has gained over 13,000 views and 929 likes. Archived versions of the posts can be found here and here.

In the viral video, Sharma said in Hindi, “I'll explain it properly because it is important to understand it. When I said that flexibility is important, it doesn't mean that you send an opener out at No... or make Hardik Pandya open the innings. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have only opened for the past 7-8 years. Virat Kohli has only played at No.3. The new boys that come at No.4 and No.5, they have to remain open about whether they bat up or down…When we first came into the team our positions (also used to change)...It doesn't mean that you send an opener to bat at No.8 and a No.8 is promoted to the top of the order. We don't do these kinds of mad things.”

Screenshots of the viral posts on Facebook. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

What did we find?

A reverse image search revealed that the video is old and unrelated to the current controversy surrounding the Bangladeshi cricketers. 

We found that the viral video is a part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) press conference on August 21, 2023. The Quint published a 32:20-minute press conference video, during which Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar and skipper Sharma announced the squad for the Asia Cup. Following the announcement, the duo answered questions about injuries and players' positions in the team. The viral video was taken from the 26:14-minute to 27:30-minute timeframe. After comparing the videos, we concluded that they are the same.

Comparison between the viral video and the BCCI press conference. (Source: Facebook (L) /The Quint (R)/Modified by Logically Facts)

We also spotted the explanation by Sharma about batting order flexibility in a video based on the press conference published by Star Sports on YouTube on August 25. The video description said, “The captain of the Indian Cricket Team, Rohit Sharma owned the stage at the Asia Cup squad announcement press conference, with his quips and quirks!." Between the 1:30 to 2:30 timestamps of the video, Sharma makes the same comments as in the viral video. 

ESPN Cricinfo also reported on Sharma’s comments in the viral video in a report published on August 21, headlined, “Rohit wants India to be flexible, in mind and batting order.” This report also specified that the comments came at a press conference to announce India's Asia Cup squad in New Delhi.

Several other media organizations, including Hindustan Times and The Telegraph, have also reported the same, quoting Sharma’s statements heard in the viral video.

The verdict

An old video of Rohit Sharma was shared out of context to claim that the Indian skipper responded to the controversy surrounding Bangladeshi cricketers Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. The viral video was cropped from a press conference held to announce India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.