Sunil Gavaskar never picked a Champions Trophy 2025 squad. The India squad that circulated under his name on social media and was published by Aaj Tak as legitimate news is entirely fabricated. Gavaskar personally messaged Aakash Chopra to deny it and has sent legal notices to outlets that carried the fake squad.
Chopra revealed the extent of the fabrication in a video on his YouTube channel Aakashvani. He admitted he initially believed the Gavaskar squad was genuine after reading it on Aaj Tak’s website.
“Sunny ji ne team hi pick nahi kiya hai. It’s not his team. He has not picked a team. Na Aaj Tak pick kiya hai na kahin aur kiya hai. He actually himself message me.”
Aakash Chopra, YouTube (Aakashvani), August 2026
Translation: “Sunny ji has not picked a team at all. It’s not his team. He has not picked a team. Not for Aaj Tak, not anywhere else. He actually messaged me himself.”
Gavaskar has sent legal notices to outlets that published the fabricated squad under his name. This follows a Delhi High Court ruling from December 2025 that granted him protection of his personality and publicity rights. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora ordered Meta, X Corp, and e-commerce platforms to remove content falsely attributed to him. The ruling made Gavaskar the first Indian sportsperson with court-backed personality rights protection.
Chopra personally messaged Dinesh Karthik, who has been vocal about India’s selection process under Gambhir and Agarkar, to verify a CT 2025 squad circulating under his name.
“Dinesh Karthik has picked no team anywhere. Aur yeh main kaise verify kar raha hoon? I message Dinesh Karthik as well. DK kehta hai ki Aakash bhai fake, matlab bilkul 100% fake hai. Maine koi team pick hi nahi ki hai.”
Aakash Chopra, YouTube (Aakashvani), August 2026
Translation: “Dinesh Karthik has picked no team anywhere. And how am I verifying this? I messaged Dinesh Karthik as well. DK says, ‘Aakash bhai, fake. Completely 100% fake. I have not picked any team.'”
Irfan Pathan’s denial followed the same pattern. A CT 2025 squad under his name was traced back to a Twitter user who presented it as breaking news.
“Maine inko bhi message kiya. Irfan kehta hai fake news hai yaar, itni jaldi main kaun pick karunga, ye lag raha hai meri team, it is not my team, I don’t know kya chal raha hai.”
Aakash Chopra, YouTube (Aakashvani), August 2026
Translation: “I messaged him too. Irfan says it’s fake news, yaar. Why would I pick so early? It looks like my team, but it is not my team. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Insider Read:
Fabricated squad picks under names like Gavaskar do not stay on someone’s timeline. They reach dressing rooms. Players check social media. Support staff track what is being said. When a respected name appears to have dropped you from a squad, you hear about it before anyone verifies whether it is real.
A fake squad is not a single statement. It is 15 names, each carrying an implied verdict on a player’s future. Fifteen decisions attributed to someone who never made them, published by mainstream outlets, absorbed into the selection discourse before anyone checks the source.
No selector reads a fabricated Gavaskar list and changes their pick directly. But the conversation it generates becomes part of the noise surrounding every selection meeting. When multiple fabricated squads all drop the same player, it creates a perception of consensus that does not actually exist. That manufactured consensus is the real damage.
The Gavaskar Fake Squad Is Part of a Two-Year Escalation
The pattern of fabricated content attributed to former Indian cricketers has been building since December 2024. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Anil Kumble posted on X after fake quotes about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were attributed to him. “The statements being circulated are not my views and do not reflect my opinions in any way,” Kumble wrote. Gavaskar threatened legal action against a website called Cricket Ception that same month for publishing a fake column under his name.
By June 2025, during the England tour, Gavaskar posted an Instagram video: “A lot of sports websites and individual accounts have been attributing comments and quotes to me which I have never made.” Ashwin also spoke against fake attributions around this period.
The December 2025 Delhi High Court ruling did not just cover fake quotes. It banned deepfake use of Gavaskar’s identity and ordered platforms to remove infringing content within 72 hours. Despite that legal protection, the fabrication has evolved from individual fake quotes to entirely manufactured squad picks, a more elaborate form of content fabrication that is harder to detect and carries more implied claims per piece of content.
Chopra confirmed that even a squad circulating under his own name, complete with his studio photograph, is fabricated.
“Ye meri team nahi hai. Kyunki maine bhi team pick nahi ki hai. Vo Sunny ji ki team nahi thi. Vo DK ki team nahi thi. Vo Irfan ki team nahi thi. Teamen kaun bana raha hai bhai?”
Aakash Chopra, YouTube (Aakashvani), August 2026
Translation: “This is not my team. Because I have not picked a team either. That was not Sunny ji’s team. That was not DK’s team. That was not Irfan’s team. Who is making these teams?”
The only real squad picks Chopra could identify were Ashwin’s partial 13-name list on ESPNcricinfo and Abhinav Mukund’s selection. Every other expert pick circulating on social media was fabricated. Chopra also flagged the Ravi Shastri selector rumour as part of the same misinformation landscape. The fake squad attributed to Gavaskar, and the pattern it represents, has reached a point where court orders and legal notices are the only tools left.
Chopra made these revelations on his verified YouTube channel Aakashvani. No official response from Aaj Tak has been made at time of publication.
Sources:
Aakash Chopra, YouTube (Aakashvani), August 2026
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