Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Former captain of India’s national cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni said those who framed Nepali spinner Lamichhane should be ashamed.
Fact
No, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has not commented about Lamichhane after the latter was convicted in a rape case.
A viral video claiming that India’s former national cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that Nepal cricket has lost a gem like Sandeep Lamichhane and those involved in framing him should be ashamed, is going viral on TikTok.
Nepali leg spinning sensation and former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team, Sandeep Lamichhane has been sentenced to eight years in jail after he was found guilty of raping an 18-year-old girl in 2022. The Kathmandu District Court passed the verdict earlier on January 10.
TikTok user @cricketassociation.can posted a video showing several images of former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and rape-convicted Nepali cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane. A Hindi audio accompanying the video says, “Former captain of India has said that Nepali cricket has lost a gem like Sandeep. Those who have framed him should be ashamed.” Text superimposed on the video reads, “Everywhere there are concerns about Sandeep Lamichhane’s conviction. But in our country they are playing a disgusting game of the way to frame.”
The video posted on March 18 has garnered 1778 likes, 34 users have shared it and 24 people have commented on it until the time of publishing this article.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker looked for news reports regarding MS Dhoni’s comments on Sandeep Lamichhne by using relevant keywords. However, the search didn’t yield any credible results.
We, then, checked the verified social media pages of MS Dhoni [See Dhoni’s X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook] searched for his comments regarding Sandeep Lamichhane. We didn’t find any verified content matching the claim made in the viral video. Our search led us to an image, dated May 1, 2018, of Sandeep Lamichhne posing for a shot with MS Dhoni. Apart from the image which had gone viral when Lamichhane made his senior Twenty20 debut for the Delhi Capital in the Indian Premier League in May 2018, we didn’t find any authentic reports on MS Dhoni speaking about Sandeep Lamichhane.
To check if Dhoni has ever made such a comment about Nepali cricket, we reached out to sports editor at Aajtak Vikrant Gupta who told us that the claim must be wrong.
Thus, our findings clearly indicate that star cricketer MS Dhoni has not said anything for and against Nepali cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane.
Conclusion
No, former captain of India’s national cricket team, MS Dhoni has not officially made any comments expressing his support to Sandeep Lamichhane and that he was framed. The viral video is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
X (Formerly) MS Dhoni
Facebook/MS Dhoni
Direct contact with Sports Editor at Aaj Tak Television, Vikrant Gupta
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
