Star Sports, the Indian Premier League (IPL) broadcaster, denied telecasting any private conversation involving Rohit Sharma, after the captain of the Indian cricket team alleged a privacy violation despite him having asked the telecasters to stop recording.
Rohit Sharma was caught telling the broadcasters to stop the audio recording during a conversation between him and Kolkata Knight Riders' Abhishek Nayar after an IPL match.Subsequently, he criticized the channel for broadcasting a private exchange.
In response, Star Sports released a statement denying the accusation. They clarified that a clip filmed during a training session on May 16 at Wankhede Stadium, for which Star Sports had authorized access, briefly captured the senior player conversing with friends on the sidelines. However, no audio from this exchange was recorded or broadcast.
"The clip, which only showed the senior player requesting for the audio of his conversation to not be recorded, got featured in Star Sports' live coverage of pre-match preparations and lacked editorial relevance beyond this," the channel clarified.
KKR shared the audio of the conversation on their social media platform and it stirred a storm regarding Rohit's future at the Mumbai Indians. The video has since been removed by KKR after the controversy.
Rohit Sharma took to Twitter on Sunday, saying, "The need to get exclusive content and focused only on views and engagement will one day break the trust between the fans, cricketers and cricket. Let better sense prevail."
Star Sports has maintained that it is committed to ensuring that the privacy of players is protected, saying,"Respect for players' privacy while bringing fans, moments of intense action and preparations, sits at the core of this ethos, which the broadcaster remains committed to."
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