Sanath Jayasuriya death hoax: Cricketer Ravi Ashwin and others seek clarification

Sanath Jayasuriya death hoax: Cricketing fraternity including Ravi Ashwin seek clarification over Sri Lankan legend death reports

Amidst all the hullabaloo and gung-ho over the imminent ICC Cricket World Cup, the cricketing fraternity was not greeted with some pleasant news on a fresh Monday morning. In fact, what did rounds on social media were reports of accident and consequent death of the former Sri Lankan batting sensation and legend, Sanath Jayasuriya.

Yes, you read it right. In this world full of information, news reports can at times stoop to an all-time low. An unverified news report circulated on Monday morning did the same.  A few cricketers, including Indian all-rounder Ravi Ashwin even got onto Twitter seeking clarification whether there was any truth in those reports.

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But, as all fake news reports are, this one too turned out to be yet another hoax, which was deliberately intended to create an uproar and fuss- which it even succeeded for a brief period.

What did the fake news state?

The reports circulated over Whatsapp and other messaging portals, had claimed that the cricketer was in Toronto, Canada on May 20 and met with an accident there. ‘A man was hit by a Honda Civic car died in the hospital and they had identified him as Sanath Jayasuriya,’ it stated.

The fake news was made so believable that everyone other person who read it-including Ravichandran Ashwin became anxious and had to tweet to confirm its authenticity.

‘He was severely injured when taken to the hospital and while being treated for it passed away the next morning. It further went on to say that the same was confirmed by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Canada, in fact, also mentioned that the Embassy was aware of Jayasuriya’s visit to Toronto,’ the fake news mentioned.

Jayasuriya intervenes

With reports of him being killed in a car accident in Canada spreading like wildfire, the legend himself had to intervene to rubbish the insensitive claims.

As soon as the disturbing news reached his family and friends it came to his notice and the cricketer clarified the same. He said, “Please disregard fake news by malicious websites regarding my health and well being. I am in Srilanka and have not visited Canada recently. Please avoid sharing fake news.”

The 49-year-old former cricketer termed it as a hoax and requested people not to share it, as it was causing distress to his friends, relative and other well wishers. “Since last night, there has been fake news of me being hurt in a car accident. The hoax has my family & friends deeply disturbed. Please ignore any such news,” he said.

Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin also received similar news on Whatsapp and got onto Twitter to confirm if there was any truth in that. He wrote- “Is the news on Sanath Jayasuriya true?? I got a news update on what’s app but see nothing here on Twitter!!”

The all-rounder however, following Sanath’s tweet perhaps, came to the understanding that is was yet one of the many Fake news that the world is apparently fed with on a constant basis.