Hyderabad: After "mistakenly" sharing two posts in the morning and evening respectively one of which was a sensitive Islamophobic cartoon and the other being subsequently tendered apology, Gujarat Titans player Yash Dayal claimed on Monday that his Instagram account was hacked.
The first post pertained to a sensitive issue of religious nature that was followed up by an apology note where Dayal appealed to his followers and users to not "spread hate". "Guy's [sic] apologies for the story it was just posted by mistake plz don't spread hate … I have respect for each & every community n society," he shared on his Instagram story after the cartoon went viral.
As the counterblasts in the comment section of Dayal followed accusing him of spreading hate, the initial post was deleted, albeit it was too late as the screenshots of it were extensively shared by the users, debating over the point at issue. In the evening, through a statement from the PR team of Gujarat Titans, Dayal claimed that he has filed a complaint with Instagram authorities that his official handle has been compromised.
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"There were two stories posted on my Insta handle today -- both of which weren't done by me. I have reported the matter to authorities as I believe my account is being accessed by someone else and used for posting. I am trying to regain full control of my Instagram account. I respect all communities and the picture shared today does not reveal my true beliefs," the statement shared with the media said.
During the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), the 26-year-old Dayal had become a trending topic in households and social media alike on April 9 after he was bludgeoned for five sixes in a match by Rinku Singh in the Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders match, which the former chased down after Singh's blitzkrieg.
Dayal had a forgettable IPL 2023 season where he picked up a mere two wickets in five matches that he featured in -- a setback after dismissing 11 batters in his nine appearances last year at an economy rate of 9.25.
Hardik Pandya, the captain of GT, had said that Dayal had lost 6-8 kgs after the match against KKR after he failed to appear in for close to a month after Singh's five consecutive sixes. He did appear later in two matches for the Gujarat team, who lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final in the lead-up to their second final of the tournament.
