Punjab Kings pacer Arshdeep Singh was heavily criticised for his actions on social media during the IPL 2026 season.
Published: May 26, 2026 1:54 PM IST
Last year’s IPL finalists Punjab Kings had a dramatic change of fortunes, losing six games in a row and just failed to qualify for the Playoffs stages in the IPL 2026 season. One of their players who came in for heavy criticism was pacer Arshdeep Singh, who had an economy rate of 10.2 in the season while claiming only 14 wickets in 14 matches.
Arshdeep, who was retained for Rs 18 crore by Preity Zinta’s Punjab Kings, was heavily criticised for his ‘vlogging’ throughout IPL 2026 season. The Punjab left-arm pacer was also slammed after his ‘racist’ remarks against Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma on one of these vlogs.
In what was a shock to most of the Indian cricketer’s fans, Arshdeep Singh cleaned up his entire Instagram profile, removing over 200 posts and also updated his profile picture on the social media platform. One of the reels that was deleted from the platform was a viral one with former India captain after 2025 Champions Trophy win.
While more than 200 posts were deleted, contrary to reports, Arshdeep hasn’t deleted anything related to Punjab Kings nor has he removed anything about PBKS from his bio.
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The biggest shock for the fans was the removal of viral video with Virat Kohli, which had generated more than 150 million views on his Instagram account. Earlier this month, he was targeted on social media after a ‘racial’ remark directed at Tilak Varma before PBKS match against the Mumbai Indians went viral. He was allegedly heard saying, ‘Oye Andhere, sunscreen lagaaya?’ (Hey, dark one, did you apply sunscreen?), which triggered massive outrage.
It was close on the heels on an alleged vlog post on which Arshdeep’s PBKS teammate Yuzvendra Chahal was seen ‘vaping’. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) then came out with strict rules about cricketers vlogging in the middle of the IPL season.
Former India cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan had slammed Arshdeep and even called for his suspension from the IPL. “Nobody believed me. Everyone mocked and trolled me. Arshdeep should be banned this season and should be paid on a pro rata basis. The players today should be hit where it hurts the most,” he had written on X.
He further added: “If BCCI takes action, I will name people who racially abused me.”
Arshdeep courted more controversy after a response to a fan on Snapchat following PBKS defeat to MI. Soon after, he sparked fresh debate for teasing his own teammate, Priyansh Arya, in another Snapchat story that quickly went viral online.
He was also in the limelight as his reported girlfriend Samreen Kaur was seen travelling all over India during the IPL 2026 season.
