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
Indian cricketer Virat Kohli apologising to his Nepali fans after a promo video inadvertently included Nepal’s Mountain.
Fact
Viral video is edited by adding an old clip of Kohli apologising for poor performance in IPL.
A video allegedly showing Indian cricketer Virat Kohili apologising to Nepali fans after sharing a promotional video of India that inadvertently carries Nepal’s mountain, is going viral on TikTok.
Virat Kohli posted a promo video on his X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook page for the Indian athletes who have left for Paris Olympics 2024. In the promotional video featuring him, the former India captain extends his best wishes to the Indian athletes who will be taking part in the Olympics. Virat Kohli was trolled in social media after he shared the promotional video of India showing Nepal’s mountain.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @bikashthapa581 posted a video showing a clip of Virat Kohli apologising to his Nepali fans. In the video Kohli is heard saying, “I sincerely apologise to the Nepali fans any misunderstandings or any offence caused. I will be more mindful in the future.” Text superimposed on the video reads, “Virat Kohli apologises to Nepal and Nepali people, conceding that the Chullu peak belongs to Nepal.”
The video also shows a screenshot of Kohli’s tweet alongside his file photo. In the background narration of a two-minute-12-second video, a Hindi voice-over says, “Yesterday, cricketer Virat Kohli posted a promotional video for India athletes bound for Paris Olympics. The video featured Nepal’s Chullu peak, which is in the Annapurna region, due to the editor’s mistake. Friends if you watch the video closely, you won’t find Virat Kohli saying that Chullu peak belongs to Nepal. It should be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s devotee who did it to drag king Kohli into controversy. This video is drawing flak for Kohli in Nepal. He has a huge fan following in Nepal. Who wouldn’t mind if their ideals share such a controversial video against their country? In this connection, Virat Kohli has apologised to Nepal and Nepali people.”
Moreover, the video shows photos of Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Sher Bahadur Deuba, while the narrator goes on to say, “Yes, it is right to raise your voice if any country claims your territory. But the people you have elected and made the messiah of your country, they don’t really care about it.”
The video posted on July 17 has garnered 54.6k likes, 1302 users have shared it and 1617 people have commented 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, Newscheckcer took a key frame of Virat Kohli from the viral video and ran a reverse search. A search led us to a video, dated May 24, 2018, posted on the verified X (formerly twitter) handle of Kohli.
On checking the video, we found that the video from 0.30-minute to 0.37-minute exactly matched the viral clip. The video actually showed Kohli posting his apologies to the fans as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), an Indian Premier League (IPL) team. In the clip, Kohli says, “We are deeply hurt by how we played, and I am deeply sorry for not living up to the expectations all the fans had of us.”
We also checked the same video of Kohli saying sorry to RCB fans posted on the YouTube channel named Oneindia. We also found an article published on India Express regarding Kohli’s apology after RCB finished in the 6th position with just 12 points in 14 games and failed to make it through the playoffs.
Further, we also checked the social media pages of Kohli to check if he apologised over the promotional video that featured Nepal’s mountain in a promotional video of India. We didn’t find any post by Kohli. Thus, our findings show that the viral clip shows an old clip of Kohli apologising to RCB fans.
Conclusion
No, Indian cricketer Kohli has not apologised to Nepali people over the controversial promo of India. The viral video actually shows 2018 video of Kohli apologising to the fans of IPL club Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Sources
Virat Kohli /X (Formerly Twitter), May 24, 2018
Oneindia News /YouTube, May 24, 2018
India express, May 24, 2018
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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.
