Gujrat Titans pacer Yash Dayal landed himself in trouble waters on Monday after he shared hateful content targeting the Muslim community in his Instagram story, but soon deleted the post and clarified that his account had been hacked.

Dayal, who was hit for five consecutive sixes by Rinku Singh during the recent IPL, faced backlash on social media for sharing an Islamophobic cartoon on his Instagram.

The story he shared revolves around “Love Jihad” – the conspiracy theory that Muslims are luring Hindu brides with the aim of conversion and eventually achieving national domination in India.

Dayal removed the story after he was castigated for propagating hate against the Muslim community. He explained that he had “respect for each and every community.”

“Guys, apologies for the story. It was just posted by mistake, please don’t spread hate. Thank you. I have respect for each and every community and society.” he wrote using the same platform.

He issued another statement afterwards, distancing himself from the whole fiasco, and maintained that his Instagram account had been hacked and that he had posted neither the story nor the apology.

“Dear all, 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.” he clarified.

Dayal featured for Gujrat Titans in five games in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) season 16.

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