Fact Check: Virat Kohli unfollowed BCCI on Instagram after getting rested without consent?

New Delhi: The Indian cricket legend Virat Kohli has been making headlines for the past couple of days as he was given rest by BCCI for the first two ODIs in the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia.

As soon as the final squad was announced for the ODI series, the cricket fans started to suspect foul play behind the decision to give Virat Kohli rest.

The fans were accusing the Mumbai lobby of BCCI of trying to protect Sachin’s international century record by giving Virat Kohli a rest. But, with no real evidence to back the accusations, this can all be termed as mere rumours.

Virat Kohli rested for the first Two ODIs against Australia

Rohit Dravid and Whole Mumbai lobby is trying to save Sachin Tendulkar records pic.twitter.com/DoGuqBRdg5

— Kevin (@imkevin149) September 18, 2023

Now, there has been a new rumour that is making its rounds around the internet.

According to the murmurs, Virat Kohli was allegedly given rest from the first two ODIs against Australia against his will and he went on to unfollow BCCI’s official Instagram account, @indiancricketteam, on Instagram.

Virat Kohli Unfollow Indian Cricket Team Page on Instagram.
What’s Going on ??
. #cricket #INDvAUS #cricketworldcup #teamindia #indiavsaustralia #viratkohli #rohitsharma #bcci #ashwin #ravichandranashwin #shubmangill #ruturajgaikwad #royalchallengersbangalore #indiancricket pic.twitter.com/1Rq18OUpKr

— Sarcastic Boy (@sarcastics_boy) September 18, 2023

Although, the fact that Virat Kohli is not following BCCI’s Instagram page at the moment is true, whether he ever followed the page in the first place or not, cannot be confirmed.

No change on Twitter, Kohli follows BCCI

However, Virat still follows BCCI’s official X (Formerly known as Twitter) page, which can somewhat term these latest rumours as fake.

Notably, Virat Kohli had only missed 20 ODIs from 2011 to 2021 but has already missed 21 ODIs in the last one and a half years.

India squad for the first two ODIs:

KL Rahul (captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, J Bumrah, M Siraj, M Shami, Tilak Varma, Prasidh Krishna, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar

Indian squad for 3rd ODI:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, J Bumrah, M Siraj, M Shami, Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel (subject to fitness), R Ashwin, Washington Sundar