Kuldeep Yadav slaps Rinku Singh after terrible outing against KKR batter; fans slam spinner: 'Shows lack of respect'

A video of Kuldeep Yadav slapping Rinku Singh after an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match is going viral on social media platforms. The incident took place on Tuesday after Rinku’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Kuldeep's Delhi Capitals (DC) by 14 runs to keep their playoff hopes alive.

While KKR scored 204/9 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the first innings with Rinku smashing 36 runs off 25 balls with a strike rate of 144, DC were restricted to 190/9. Kuldeep went wicketless in the match, conceding an expensive 27 runs in three overs and not completing his full quota.

11 out of Kuldeep’s 18 deliveries were against Rinku, who smashed the Indian spinner for 22 runs, which accounts for a strike rate of 200. Rinku also hit Kuldeep for three fours and a six.

More from First Cricket

Former New Zealand coach who defeated India in WTC final appointed Andhra Pradesh head coach for Ranji Trophy Sri Lanka crush Bangladesh by six wickets to record commanding win in Asia Cup 2025

Kuldeep slaps Rinku twice

Now it’s difficult to explain why Kuldeep slapped Rinku twice after the match, as players from both teams were involved in a meet-and-greet session. Maybe it’s just playful banter or maybe Kuldeep was unhappy with how he was treated in the middle by Rinku.

In the video that is going viral, Rinku could be seen showing anger and confusion through his facial expressions after Kuldeep slapped him for the first time. However, the spinner repeated his act and slapped Rinku for the second time.

Watch video here:

Even if this is some sort of a joke, it is not funny. Shows lack of respect a player has for another player.

Kuldeep Yadav Slaps Rinku Singh Twice. pic.twitter.com/4rKie2AjIn

— Sanket Upadhyay (@sanket) April 30, 2025

Both Kuldeep (Kanpur) and Rinku (Aligarh) hail from Uttar Pradesh and have been teammates in the state team for a long time. It is quite possible that they share a strong bond and it was just banter. However, fans were not happy with Kuldeep’s behaviour as they called it out on social media platforms.

Fans slam Kuldeep for slapping Rinku

A fan accused Kuldeep of disrespecting Rinku while another warned him against doing “childish theatrics”.

“Even if this is some sort of a joke, it is not funny. Shows lack of respect a player has for another player,” a user wrote.

“It might be a friendly banter, but no way Rinku looked amused. He was rather shocked. The expression tells it all. Kuldeep Yadav was depressed for a long time, then Rohit Sharma gave him a long rope, he shouldn’t waste that opportunity but doing all this childish theatrics,” another fan said.

The cricketers are yet to react to the incident.