Rohit Sharma has hit out at host broadcaster Star Sports for not respecting the privacy of players in the name of “exclusive content”.

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Rohit accuses Star Sports of breaching privacy

In a strong social media post on X (Twitter), Rohit Sharma, who leads India and used to lead the Mumbai Indians, slammed Star Sports for following around and recording supposedly private conversations of cricketers to create engagement-worthy content.

“The lives of cricketers have become so intrusive that cameras are now recording every step and conversation we are having in privacy with our friends and colleagues, at training or on match days,” Rohit wrote.

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He did not refrain from naming Star Sports, the TV broadcasters of IPL 2024, in his post as he accused them of breach of privacy: “Despite asking Star Sports to not record my conversation, it was and was also then played on air, which is a breach of privacy.

“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.”

The leaked conversation with Abhishek Nayar

Rohit’s allegations came on the back of a recent clip that went viral on social media where he was seen talking to Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, Rohit’s former teammate at India and Mumbai, at the Eden Gardens ahead of MI’s clash against KKR.

In that video, which was promptly taken down, Rohit was overheard mentioning how everything had changed back at home, but irrespective of whatever happened, it was a temple that he had built. Many assumed by “home”, he meant Mumbai Indians, while the “temple” was the five trophies he had won as MI captain.

A few days back, before MI’s last league game against Lucknow Super Giants, Rohit was captured talking to Dhawal Kulkarni, his former India, Mumbai, and MI teammate, and several others at the Wankhede Stadium.

Having spotted the cameraperson, Rohit asked them to stop recording the audio as a leaked audio from a previous conversation (presumably the one with Nayar) had caused a lot of trouble. However, that clip of him asking the cameraperson to stop the recording went viral as well, perhaps prompting Rohit to come up with his post today (May 19).