Fact Check: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will play for 2027 World Cup, says Coach Gambhir? Here are the facts

Hyderabad: Virat Kohli dominated the ODI series against South Africa with a remarkable 302 runs, including two centuries, while Rohit Sharma contributed two steady half-centuries as India sealed a 2-1 series victory.

With both veterans displaying exceptional form and consistency, speculation about their participation in the 2027 World Cup has intensified.

Meanwhile, a video clip of Coach Gautam Gambhir from a press conference at the conclusion of the series has been circulating on social media. In the clip, Gambhir allegedly confirms the availability of the ‘white ball giants’ in the 2027 ODI World Cup.

“Virat and Rohit, especially Virat, who has shown the kind of intent in this series; two hundreds and one fifty. Surely Virat is the best batsman on the planet right now. Look, brother, I am confirming this. Both of them will definitely be in the 2027 World Cup, 100 per cent,” Gambhir allegedly said in the video.

Sharing the video, an Instagram user captioned it, “Gautam Gambhir about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.”

A similar claim can be found here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the video has been manipulated by using AI-generated audio.

Has the media reported on the World Cup confirmation?

We conducted a keyword search and came across an NDTV report dated December 7. According to the report, during the press conference, Gambhir shut down talk about the 2027 World Cup squad and emphasised focusing on the present.

According to The Indian Express report of December 7, Gambhir indicated there was no need to read too much into the performances of Kohli and Rohit with regard to the next 50-over World Cup, still two years away.

The newspaper quoted Gambhir speaking about the senior duo: “They are world-class players and their experience is important in the dressing room. They have been doing it for a long time. Hopefully, they can continue doing the same, which is going to be important in the 50-over format.”

However, neither media outlet reported Gambhir confirming the availability of the senior duo for the 2027 World Cup.

Video’s source

We again conducted a keyword search and found the press conference published by BCCI and The Times of India on December 6. We listened to the entire interaction but did not find any confirmation or statements made by Gambhir as shown in the viral video.

However, we did find him saying that Kohli and Rohit are class players and emphasising their importance in the dressing room.

Inconsistencies in the viral clip

We compared the viral and original videos and found that while the voice has, to an extent, been cloned, the tone, texture, and manner of delivery differ significantly. We also noticed that Gambhir’s facial skin in the viral clip appears somewhat unnatural compared to what is seen in the original video.

What does tool analysis find?

We extracted the audio from the viral clip and subjected it to analysis on the AI-detection tool Deepfake-O-Meter. Five of its detectors found that the audio is likely AI-generated, with the confidence scores of 94.4, 89.4, 100, 98.2, and 45.9 per cent, respectively.

Therefore, we conclude that the viral video has been manipulated by merging AI-generated audio. The claim is false.