Star Sports denies airing audio of Rohit Sharma and breaching privacy

Delhi: IPL broadcaster Star Sports on Monday denied airing the audio of any personal conversation involving Rohit Sharma after the Indian captain accused the channel of "breaching" his privacy despite his requests to stop the recording.

Sharma was seen asking the broadcasters to shut down the audio while recording him during his chat with Kolkata Knight Riders' Abhishek Nayar after an IPL fixture. On Sunday, he accused the channel of airing a private conversation.

The channel denied the charge in a statement.

"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. 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," the channel stated.

The audio of the chat was posted by KKR on their social media handle leading to speculation about Sharma's future with Mumbai Indians. Following the controversy, the video was taken down by KKR.

"The need to get exclusive content and focus only on views and engagement will one day break the trust between the fans, cricketers and cricket. Let better sense prevail," Sharma said on Sunday.

The channel said it was committed to protecting players' privacy.

"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," it stated.