Star Sports issued a clarification statement days after Mumbai Indians (MI) player Rohit Sharma criticised the official TV broadcaster of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for invasion of privacy by airing a private conversation, despite being told not to record it. 

Star Sports rebuffed Rohit’s claims saying it respected players’ privacy and that it didn’t record any audio from a conversation Rohit had with his friends along the boundary ropes. 

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“A clip involving a senior Indian player and his post on social media have gained prominence since yesterday. The clip, taken during a training session on May 16 at Wankhede stadium, for which Star Sports had authorised access, momentarily showed the senior player in conversation with his friends on the sidelines,” Star Sports said in a statement.

“No audio from this conversation was either 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,” it added. 

Star Sports may have been referring to the May 16 incident when Rohit, while talking to Dhawal Kulkarni, requested the cameraperson recording them to turn off the sound.  

“Brother, turn off the audio. One audio has made life difficult for me,” Rohit could be heard saying. 

Rohit’s convo with Nayar

In a prior video, Rohit was interacting with Kolkata Knight Riders coach Abhishek Nayar about how things have gone since he was ousted as the MI captain. The entire private clip went viral, leading to speculations that Rohit was playing his final season in MI colours. 

After MI played its final match of the season, Rohit took to his social media handles and requested the broadcasters to draw the line between privacy and content fit for public consumption.

“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. 

“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,” he added. 

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