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Punjab Kings fast bowler Arshdeep Singh seems to have been embroiled in a new controversy. Over the last few days, both Arshdeep and PBKS have found themselves in the middle of one controversy after another.
Now, Arshdeep has allegedly been seen racially abusing his fellow T20 World Cup-winner and Mumbai Indians batter Tilak Varma. The video has gone viral on the internet.
Past controversies of Arshdeep Singh
This isn’t the first time that Arshdeep has come under fire in IPL 2026 off the field. He was always a camera-savvy person, shooting and posting vlogs with not just the Indian team, but his IPL franchise too.
After the BCCI asked teams to refrain from the “vlogging” culture, the Punjab Kings had asked Arshdeep to cut down on his filming and posting. In another incident, Arshdeep had allegedly gotten into a verbal altercation with PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer at the airport.
Also Read: PBKS issue fresh statement after internal rift, player allegations, and dressing-room drama explode
In yet another viral video, Arshdeep Singh was seen with his girlfriend, Samreen Kaur, in the team bus. The BCCI had prevented all players from fraternizing with “unauthorised” persons in official team areas like hotels and team buses.
The Arshdeep Singh and Tilak Varma incident
The video was originally posted to Arshdeep’s Snapchat account but has gone viral all over other platforms like X.
The video appears to have been filmed in the lobby area of a hotel. Both the Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians are currently in Dharamsala for their upcoming IPL 2026 match on Thursday.
MI batter Naman Dhir, who is Arshdeep’s teammate at Punjab in domestic cricket, is also visible in the video, other than Arshdeep and Varma.
In the video, Arshdeep can be heard saying, “Oye Tilak, Andhere. Aaj sunscreen nahi lagaya kya?”, which translates to ‘Hey Tilak, darkness, did you not apply sunscreen today?’
— crictalk (@crictalk7) May 13, 2026
Tilak Varma originally hails from Hyderabad in South India. Over the years, there have been many stereotypes about South Indian people having darker skin shades and being called names for it.
Varma’s immediate reaction in the original video is not one of offense, but it cannot be deterministically said whether Arshdeep meant to offend his India teammate.
Arshdeep Singh and Tilak Varma’s equation
The two have shared a dressing room while playing together for India many times, including when India won the T20 World Cup in 2026.
While Arshdeep Singh has been mostly criticised for the insensitive remark, it is also possible that if questioned, he might play it off as “light banter” or “friendly ribbing”.
In the short term, the incident may be unlikely to cause any bad blood between the two, at least based on Varma’s reaction.
PBKS and MI’s next match
As mentioned earlier, the Punjab Kings and the Mumbai Indians are set to play each other at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Thursday.
The two teams have already met once in IPL 2026 before. At the Wankhede Stadium, Quinton de Kock’s century had gone in vain in the face of Prabhsimran Singh’s unbeaten 80.
PBKS have lost four matches in a row and will look to arrest that slide against a struggling MI. MI have already been eliminated, and have nothing to lose.
Apart from settling the score, MI also have an opportunity to derail Punjab Kings’ push to the playoffs.
