An image of former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni wearing monk robes is circulating on social media claiming that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has converted to Buddhism and thus we can see him in the robe attire. The image is going viral on Facebook and Twitter.

The caption of the post mentions that “World cup winning, former Indian cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni converted to Buddhism.”

Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running a Google Reverse Image search which led us to a tweet by Star Sports dated 13th March, which carried images of the cricketer’s new avatar asking internet users, what could the new look be about. The tweet states that “our faces since we saw #MSDhoni's new avatar that could just break the Internet! What do you think is it about?”

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Next, we found another tweet by the official account of Star Sports revealing the mystery behind the new look, Star Sports on 14th March launched an ad-campaign for IPL 2021 featuring Dhoni in his new look. The tweet stated that “#VIVOIPL salutes the new Indian spirit that is eager to innovate and rewrite the rulebook. Will history be created yet again this IPL? Join us in celebrating #IndiaKaApnaMantra. LIVE from Apr 9 | Broadcast starts 6 PM, Match starts 7:30 PM | Star Sports & Disney+Hotstar VIP.”

The tweet also attached the advertisement where one can see Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a guru preaching his students about IPL.

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Conclusion- Fact Crescendo found the above-mentioned post to be False. The viral image on social media does not show former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni accepting Buddhism, but in fact it is an advertisement for IPL. Social media users mistook Dhoni’s new ad campaign as a real image of him suggesting that he had converted to Buddhism.

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Title:Former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has NOT converted Buddhism

Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo Team

Result: False