Suresh Raina slams fake reports about his death 

Indian cricketer Suresh Raina took to Twitter to slam fake videos on YouTube that reported his demise in a fatal road accident, revealing that his family and friends have been deeply disturbed by the reports.

Over the last one week, several videos popped up on video-sharing platform YouTube reporting that Raina had passed away in a car accident, using morphed pictures of the cricketer, along with those of his teammates, to spread the rumour.

"Past few days there has been fake news of me being hurt in a car accident. The hoax has my family & friends deeply disturbed. Please ignore any such news; with god’s grace I'm doing absolutely fine. Those @YouTube channels have been reported & hope strict actions will be taken soon," he tweeted.

Past few days there has been fake news of me being hurt in a car accident.The hoax has my family & friends deeply disturbed. Please ignore any such news; with god’s grace I'm doing absolutely fine.Those @youtube channels have been reported & hope strict actions will be taken soon

— Suresh Raina🇮🇳 (@ImRaina) February 11, 2019

Raina, part of the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, will be representing the franchise in the 12th edition of the tournament starting March 23. He was last seen in action during the Ranji Trophy in December.

A screengrab of some of the YouTube channels spreading fake news

This isn't the first incident in recent times when a prominent cricketer has been at the receiving end of fake reports by rumour mongers. In December last year, Kiwi cricketer Nathan McCullum was reported dead by a fan club on Facebook. The impact and reach was such that his brother Brendon McCullum had to tweet out Nathan's well-being, revealing that he was on a flight when he was told about the news, and how 'his heart broke'.

A livid Brendon even promised to find those who had spread the fake news, tweeting "Whoever put this out there, I’ll find you! Somewhere, somehow".

In July 2018, former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq was also subjected to similar trouble, when he was reported to have passed away in an accident. Razzaq put out a video on social media, assuring fans that he was fine. He added in the video: "People should refrain from posting such fake news on social media without properly investigating the story."

Hopefully, Raina's response, and the reporting of the notorious channels, will help curb the spread of grievous reports like these, that not only affect the person involved, but also the people close to them.