Reports of Sanath Jayasuriya’s death Fake News; cricketer himself clarifies

Monday morning in the cricketing universe didn’t get off to a great start as unverified reports claimed the demise of former Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya. It found a lot of steam on social media and messaging portals suddenly even the cricketing fraternity wasn’t sure what was happening. A few cricketers even got onto Twitter seeking clarification whether there was any truth in those reports.

As it turns out the news was indeed fake and Sanath himself has put out a statement rubbishing the rumours. The reports 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.

‘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.

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.”

In a statement, the former Sri Lankan cricketer and administrator further mentioned that it was a hoax and requested people to not share it since it was causing them a lot of distress.

“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.

Also read- World Cup 2019: Sri Lanka’s Avishka Fernando stretchered off in warm-up against South Africa

Ashwin tries to verify the news on Twitter

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!!”

Is the news on Sanath Jayasuriya true?? I got a news update on what's app but see nothing here on Twitter!!

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) May 27, 2019