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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Sports fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about sports. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

1,766 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYSports

Sunil Gavaskar said that BCCI has let India down, after the India vs. Pakistan cricket match in Asia Cup 2023

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a specific statement attributed to Sunil Gavaskar after the India–Pakistan Asia Cup match on 2 September 2023. The circulating message said he had made the remarks on NDTV, including that “BCCI has let India down.” FACTLY investigated whether Gavaskar had made those critical comments after that match; it did not establish that the quoted wording came from him. The review says it found no reports of him making such remarks and concludes that the attribution was fabricated. [S1: “There are no reports of Sunil Gavaskar making such critical remarks against the BCCI recently after the India vs. Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match in 2023.”] A central piece of evidence was a public denial from Gavaskar’s son, former cricketer Rohan Gavaskar. He described the attributed statement as fabricated and said his father had not made it. The review also reports that Rohan said his father was under contract with India Today, which he cited as a reason Gavaskar would not have spoken to NDTV as the viral message alleged. [S1: “This is a completely fabricated statement attributed to my father. He hasn’t made this statement and someone is just trying to create mischief.”] FACTLY describes additional checks: it found that Gavaskar gave mid-match and post-match interviews to India Today on 2 September, and reports that those interviews contained no critical remarks about the BCCI. It also says a broader keyword search found no credible source for the alleged remarks. Taken together, the reported denial, the identified broadcaster for Gavaskar’s interviews that day, and the lack of corroborating reporting support the review’s conclusion that the statement was falsely attributed to him. [S1: “Sunil Gavaskar has not made any critical remarks on BCCI in these interviews.”]

FACTLYSports

Image depicting crowd in Lal Chowk, Kashmir watching Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam live

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns an image circulated as showing people gathered at Lal Chowk in Kashmir to watch Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam live. FACTLY says the image circulated during the Asia Cup 2023, but its investigation found that the image had been altered and that the scene originally showed people watching a different event at the same location. The review also reports finding no reports of Pakistan cricket matches being live-streamed at Lal Chowk. [S1: “The viral image depicting people watching Babar Azam is being circulated against the backdrop of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. However, there are no reports of live streaming of Pakistan cricket matches at the Lal Chowk.”] To investigate the image, the review describes conducting a reverse image search. That search led to a post from Srinagar Police featuring the original image. In the police caption, the crowd is described as watching live coverage of the Chandrayaan-3 landing on a large screen at Lal Chowk—not a cricket match. [S1: “A reverse image search of the viral photo led us to a tweet by the Srinagar police, which shared the original image, wherein people watching the Chandrayaan-3 landing.”] [S1: “People at Lal Chowk Srinagar today witnessed Live coverage of Chandrayaan-3 Landing on a big screen at Lal Chowk square.”] FACTLY further says that news agencies and local news reports documented the Chandrayaan-3 landing being streamed at Lal Chowk. Taken together with the police post and the image search, that reporting supports the review’s conclusion that the viral version was digitally altered to replace the original event with the claim about Babar Azam. [S1: “Multiple news agencies have reported the live streaming of the Chandrayaan-3 landing at the Lal Chowk (here & here). Local news reports that reported the live streaming of the landing can be viewed here.”]

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaSports

ආසියානු කුසලාන තරගාවලිය සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් සංචිතයට මිලාන් රත්නායක ඇතුළත් ද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerned a social-media post saying that fast bowler Milan Rathnayake would replace Pramod Madushan in Sri Lanka’s squad for the Asia Cup. Fact Crescendo reports that Rathnayake told it his official Facebook page had been hacked in the previous December and that someone else had used it to publish the false selection claim. The review also says that a post on the Facebook page Rathnayake was then using addressed the matter. These details indicate why a post appearing under his name was not reliable evidence that he had been selected. At the time of the initial inquiry, Sri Lanka Cricket’s media spokesperson, Prasanna Rodrigo, said the squad had been sent for the sports minister’s approval and would be announced officially once that approval was received. The review then reports an update: Sri Lanka Cricket announced the squad on August 29. Its listed players included Pramod Madushan, but not Milan Rathnayake. That official roster directly contradicts the claim that Rathnayake had been included in the squad in Madushan’s place. The review’s conclusion is that the social-media claim was false and that Rathnayake confirmed the post came from his hacked account. The evidence thus combines Rathnayake’s account of the post’s origin with the subsequently announced squad, rather than treating the apparent Facebook post as confirmation of selection.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaSports

සිම්බාබ්වේ හිටපු ක්‍රිකට් තරුවක් වූ Heath Streak ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත් වූ බවට පළවන පුවත් අසත්‍යයි!

Publisher’s rating: False

The review examined reports and social-media posts claiming that former Zimbabwe all-rounder Heath Streak had died of cancer. It says the reports were circulating in both Sri Lankan and international media, and reproduces a post announcing his death at age 49. The investigation’s conclusion was based chiefly on information attributed to former Zimbabwe fast bowler Henry Olonga: the article says Olonga shared an image of a WhatsApp exchange in which Streak said he was alive, after Olonga had earlier posted that Streak had died. The review also reports that Olonga’s correction was followed by other cricket figures withdrawing or revising their condolences. The article provides important context for the mistaken reports: it says Streak was receiving cancer treatment and that Zimbabwean politician David Coltart had described him as being in a critical condition in a post dated August 13, 2023. That context helps explain why death reports seemed plausible, but it does not establish that he had died at the time the review’s investigation was conducted. The conclusion explicitly states that Olonga had confirmed Streak was alive. However, the supplied review text begins with an update that changes the account: it says Streak died on the 3rd, aged 49, while receiving specialist treatment for colon and liver cancer. The excerpt does not specify the month for that day, so it cannot be established from this text alone when the update was added. The original conclusion and the later update therefore present different states of the story: the review’s initial finding was that the death reports were false, while its update reports that Streak subsequently died.