IPL Sensationalism: Who's Feeding Endless Fake News, And How To Minimise Your Exposure?

During Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) 'El Clasico' face-off with Mumbai Indians (MI) on Thursday (April 23, 2026), the visitors' batting coach Michael Hussey shared a much-awaited update about MS Dhoni's fitness while talking to the Indian Premier League (IPL) host broadcaster. Hussey made it clear that whenever Dhoni returns from his calf strain, he will resume duties as a wicketkeeper and not feature merely as an impact player.

ALSO SEE: MI Vs CSK Highlights

“Oh, I'm pretty sure he'll be behind the stumps. The biggest thing for him is that he's had the calf injury, it's just the running and late in innings, if he comes in, having to scamper those ones and twos, he just needs to make sure the calf is strong enough to withstand that," the former Australia batter said.

Hussey's quotes were substantial enough to be newsworthy in themselves, given how Dhoni’s absence has remained a constant talking point around CSK matches. Yet, online nuisance-makers saw the need to disregard them and fabricate fresh ones, in the endless pursuit of virality.

A user of social media platform X tweeted the following:

"Ravi Shastri - Do you feel like you're missing Ms Dhoni on the field?

"Hussey - No absolutely not, that guy was playing as liability in our team for the last 3 years, but now we are playing freely without him. To be honest no one is missing him in the dugout. And please can you ask me any other question related to the live match instead of asking about a particular guy who is not even playing today."

The user attached a screenshot of Hussey's interaction with the commentators along with the patently fake quotes to make them seem authentic. While a discerning reader would most likely be able to winnow the post out, there still are many, relatively less internet-literate consumers who fall prey to such shenanigans everyday.

The way payouts work for X, even tweets calling out the above user's misinformation via replies and quote tweets would work in the former's favour. The platform rewards engagement of any kind, and paid blue ticks reap its benefits regularly by rage-baiting and misleading their audiences.

Clickbait In News' Clothing

Given its ever-increasing popularity, the IPL has become a breeding ground for rumours, clickbait, fake news and sensationalism. Social media is not the only space where such shortcuts are employed. Digital news portals are also leveraging shrinking attention spans and algorithmic polarisation to dish out articles that are anything but 'news'.

Take the same CSK vs MI match, for instance. Former India cricketer and noted commentator Ravi Shastri was on toss duty and took a few seconds to name CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. It was what any sane individual would recognise as a negligible imperfection from a 63-year-old. Not the click-hungry websites, however.

Several articles were published, centred around Shastri's supposed “blunder” and “memory lapse”. Provocative headlines, as usual, lured curious readers and the fact that the contents inside did not deserve such amplification never mattered, as long as the gullible minds and fingertips landed on the respective portals.

This is just one example from the hundreds of pieces churned out everyday in the name of 'serving demand'. It's a menace assuming frightening proportions, and one for which the only solution is limiting your IPL media consumption to a select few credible outlets, in addition to official channels.