Punjab Kings break silence on negative chatter about Arshdeep Singh on social media: ‘He's very loud, that hasn't…'

The blip in form has also coincided with Punjab Kings facing significant scrutiny on social media, with pacer Arshdeep Singh right at the centre of the controversy. At first, he faced backlash for a video featuring Tilak Varma, which he shared on Snapchat. In the clip, Arshdeep called out Tilak, saying, “Oye andhere," and this didn't please the fans as they accused the left-arm pacer of “casual racism.”

A day later, Arshdeep once again hogged the limelight for his reply to a fan, who had urged him to remove Punjab Kings from his name. The pacer said he cannot follow advice from people who still take money from their family to buy chips and cold drinks.

“I don't follow a lot of social media myself, so I know there's been a bit of chatter behind the scenes of various things going on, vlogging and whatnot. I'm not across that. In terms of his behaviour, Arsh is pretty much a flat line. He's not up or down. He gives his best out there. We've been working together a little bit, and looking at his body, there may be restrictions that could be a reason for some of his performances being up and down. We think we've hit on a bit of a winner there,” Leipus told reporters in the pre-match press conference.

“He's been feeling a lot better in the last couple of weeks, physically. Overall, he's pretty consistent with his behaviour and his attitude. He's a very loud person in the dressing room. That hasn't changed. He's not up and down. He's very calm,” he added.

‘A problem’

However, Leipus did agree that the use of social media is getting a bit out of hand, and the older generation might find it hard to understand why the current cricketers are so hooked to their phones.

“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 are 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.

"On the other side of the coin, you've got a lot of commercial operations going on there. You've got to find that right balance. One of the best things the ICC ever did was take phones away. When we go into the dressing room, guys can start talking again. 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, but I don't really have time to pay attention to that. I think it's potentially something that needs to be addressed," he added.

Speaking of Arshdeep's performance on the field, he has had a below-par IPL 2026 season by his standards. In the 12 matches he has played, Arshdeep has returned with 13 wickets at an economy rate of 9.69.

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