Hours after various news reports claimed that former Zimbabwe cricket team captain Heath Streak had died from cancer on Wednesday, the all-rounder rubbished the rumors saying such speculation “hurt” him.
“It is a total rumor and a lie. I'm alive and well. I am very upset to learn that something as big as someone apparently passing can be spread unverified, especially in our day and age of social media,” the Mid-Day said quoting Streak.
He further demanded an apology from the source who spread such rumors.
The news about the death of Zimbabwe’s cricketing legend was spread early in the morning as several media reports claimed that Streak died at the age of 49 after a prolonged battle with cancer.
The reports came after Streak’s former teammate Henry Olonga claimed in a tweet that his former teammate had died.
However, a few hours later, Olonga shared a screenshot of conversation with Streak, clarifying that “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."
However, before Olonga clarified that the demise of Streak was a rumour several cricketers and fans had already shared the news of the former skipper of Zimbabwe cricket team and paid him tributes.
Among those who fell victim to the hoax news included Zimbabwe cricket team captain Sean Williams, Indian bowler Ravichandran Ashwin, V.V.S. Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble and many more.
Later all of them took down their posts.
Streak had an illustrious career while playing for the national cricket team of Zimbabwe. He represented his country in 65 Test matches and 189 One Day International (ODI) matches.
In Test matches, Streak scored 19,990 runs and took 216 wickets while in ODIs he has amassed 2,942 runs and took 239 wickets.
Streak, till date, remains the only Zimbabwe cricketer with a double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests and 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in ODIs.