Days after Suryakumar Yadav was announced as Team India’s new captain for the T20 series against Sri Lanka, and Hardik Pandya was removed from his role as vice-captain, a statement attributed to former Indian skipper MS Dhoni has surfaced on Internet.
In the statement, Dhoni purportedly alleged politics in Indian cricket and supported Pandya.
The statement in Hindi reads: “भारत में क्रिकेट कम और राजनीति ज्यादा चलता है वर्ना भारत को विश्व चैंपियन बनाए हार्दिक की कप्तानी नहीं छीनी जाती।” (English translation: “There is less cricket and more politics in India, otherwise Hardik’s captaincy would not have been snatched away by making India the world champion.”)
The above Thread post can be seen here (archive). Another such post can be seen here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above post, and found it to be misleading.
With a keyword search on Google, the NM team did not find any credible reports indicating that MS Dhoni commented on Hardik Pandya not being selected as captain.
It is noteworthy that if Dhoni had made such a statement, it would have been widely reported in mainstream media. Even Dhoni’s social media handles — X and Instagram — have not carried any such statement.
Dhoni’s last post on X was dated January 8, 2021, whereas on Instagram he last posted on July 14, 2024, which was before the announcement of the Indian squad on July 18, 2024.
So, it can be concluded that the viral statement is falsely attributed to MS Dhoni.
