Fact Check: Did Anushka Sharma really sit in the BCCI selection meeting?

Anushka Sharma is in news despite her only connection to cricket being the wife of Indian captain Virat Kohli. She has been constantly targeted for no fault of her after every time India or Kohli fails to win a match. She was even blamed for the Indian team’s loss to New Zealand in the semi-finals of ICC World Cup 2019, as it ended their campaign in the tournament.

She was recently in a storm when former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer had claimed that he saw the BCCI selectors serving cups of tea to the wife of Indian captain who was present during the team’s matches during the World Cup in England and Wales.

“I didn’t even know one of the selectors during the World Cup and I asked him who the hell he was because he was wearing the India blazer and he said he was one of the selectors. All they were doing was getting Anushka Sharma (Kohli’s wife) cups of tea,” Engineer was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.

Was Farokh Engineer right and did Anushka Sharma really sit in the selection meeting?

Meanwhile, a photo is doing rounds on social media which shows the Bollywood Diva present during a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee meeting. In the said picture, Anushka Sharma, along with Virat Kohli, is seen sitting and posing for a photo along with chairman MSK Prasad and other senior functionaries of the BCCI, including president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.

The photo went viral with many fans asking what right Anushka has to be present in the meeting which discusses the selection of players in the Indian team. However, IB Times has delved deeper into the issue and unearthed the reality which was hidden in plain sight. They have found that the photo has been doctored to add the actress in the meeting.

The original photo was taken on November 21 during the selection committee meeting, to decide the Indian team that will take on the touring West Indies side after the completion of the series against Bangladesh. The miscreants decided to plaster Anushka Sharma in place of Gagan Khoda, a member of the selection panel.

Here’s the original picture

The real intent of the people who did this is not yet known, but though Anushka accompanies her husband Virat for matches, she wasn’t really part of the selection meeting as shown in the photoshopped image.