Ravichandran Ashwin took to Twitter to apologise to former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak for posting a fake post on the latter’s death.
Streak was deemed to have passed away due to cancer, but the information turned out to be false. The fast bowling all-rounder was being treated in South Africa and was critical, as revealed by Zimbabwe’s former minister of education, sport, and culture, David Coltart, in May.
Ashwin paid condolences to his family after hearing about his demise. However, the off-spinner apologised for his mistake.
“I saw Henry Olonga’s tweet and mourned it too. It came from a place of utter disbelief and sadness. Deleted that tweet but glad to know that you are doing fine. @HeathStreak3. Take care and apologies for the inaccurate tweet from my side,” Ashwin wrote.
His former Zimbabwe teammate Henry Olonga also posted about his former teammate’s death.
“Sad news coming through that Heath Streak has crossed to the other side. RIP legend. The greatest all-rounder we produced. It was a pleasure playing with you. See you on the other side when my bowling spell comes to an end,” Olonga tweeted.
Current Zimbabwe Test skipper Sean Williams had also paid a tribute to the legendary cricketer.
However, Olonga later clarified that Streak was alive.
“I can confirm that rumors of the demise of Heath Streak have been greatly exaggerated. I just heard from him. The third umpire has called him back. He is very much alive folks,” he tweeted.