Gujarat Titans’ left-arm pacer Yash Dayal on Monday claimed that his official Instagram handle was hacked after a controversial post of religious nature and a subsequent apology went viral.

In the morning, a cartoon, vilifying a particular community, was posted from his Insta account but later deleted. But by that time, screenshots of the post were shared widely on social media.

Another post, apologising for the earlier one, appeared on the handle soon after. It read: “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”.

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.

“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.

The player from Uttar Pradesh had a forgettable outing for the Titans this year and made headlines when, on April 9, he was hit for five consecutive sixes in the last over of a match by Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rinku Singh in Ahmedabad.

Following that, the 25-year-old played only two more matches in the rest of the campaign for the Titans, who went all the way to the final before being defeated by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings.

Dayal had also played for India A last year. He made his first-class debut for Uttar Pradesh in 2018 and has taken 58 wickets from 17 matches.

Written with inputs from PTI