Fact Check: Did Virat Kohli post Instagram story in solidarity with Gaza?
The star cricketer did not post any story with a solidarity message and did not dedicate his 49th ton to the people of Gaza.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 8 Nov 2023 5:54 AM GMT
Screengrab of the post. (Source: X/@rheahhh_)
Indian cricketer Virat Kohli equaled Sachin Tendulkarās world record by scoring his 49th ODI century against South Africa on November 5 in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Batting first, India set a target of 327 runs for Proteas, with Kohli scoring 101 runs from 127 balls. South Africa was bowled out at 83 runs in 27.1, losing the game by 243 runs.
Now, social media users are sharing a screengrab of an Instagram story, reportedly posted by Virat Kohli, claiming that the cricketer has posted a solidarity message for the people of Gaza and dedicated his 49th ton to them. The message reads, āIn solidarity with Gaza.ā
An X premium user shared the screengrab of the purported Instagram story with the caption, āInstagram story of #ViratKohli. He dedicated his 49th ODI to the people of Gaza. King for a reason.ā
The user also claimed 15 minutes after posting the screengrab that Kohli deleted the story after outrage from the right wing.
The screengrab was also shared by the other X users claiming the same. (Click here, here and here to see the post.)
Fact Check
NewsMeter verified that the star cricketer did not post any story with a solidarity message and did not dedicate his 49th ton to the people of Gaza.
We ran a relevant keyword search related to Kohli dedicating his 49th ton but did not find a news report about him dedicating his achievement to the people of Gaza.
We also did not find any such story on the official Instagram account of the cricketer.
The viral screengrab posted by several users shows a timestamp of 19 minutes. Instagram story automatically vanishes 24 hours after the posting. Kohli has more than 262 million followers on Instagram. Even if the story was deleted by the cricketer 19 minutes after the posting, there could have been screengrabs of other timestamps also with millions of followers.
