Punjab Kings pacer Arshdeep Singh has found himself at the centre of controversy amid his team’s struggles in IPL 2026. The left-arm pacer sparked a social media storm after a video surfaced in which he was heard referring to Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma as “Andhere” (dark one). The clip went viral, prompting backlash from fans, with former cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan among those urging the BCCI to take action against Arshdeep. As the criticism was still brewing, Arshdeep courted further attention after issuing a sharp response to a fan on social media who asked him to remove “Punjab” from his team name.
Ahead of PBKS’ match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, PBKS head of sports science Andrew Leipus addressed the online discourse surrounding Arshdeep.
Leipus also spoke about the pacer’s inconsistent performances this season, while acknowledging that modern-day cricketers tend to remain heavily engaged with their phones and social media platforms.
“We’ve been working together a little bit and looking at his body if there’s any restrictions in his body that might be a reason for some of his performances being up and down. We think we’ve hit on a bit of a winner there. He’s been feeling a lot better in the last couple of weeks, physically,” said Andrew Leipus.
“One of the best things the ICC ever did was take phones away. When you’re in that team environment, it’s not an issue. It’s outside that when it becomes an issue. I’ve heard rumours. I think potentially it is something that needs to be addressed,” he added.
In 12 matches, Arshdeep Singh has taken 13 wickets at an economy rate of 9.70. Once regarded as a reliable death-over specialist, the left-arm pacer appears to have lost his rhythm this season.
Leipus also stated that the usage of the phones among the youngsters is becoming the root cause of the problem.
“I’m old. I don’t really partake in a lot of social media. You can check my name out there. I’m probably the wrong person to be asking. You look across every team, you’ll see guys sitting there on their phones in the buses. There’s not a lot of chatter going on. It is a problem, I think. I’ve got young kids. I’m trying to steer them away from it,” said Leipus.
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