How PBKS’ welcome video for Vishal Nishad exposed the ugly side of social media

Towards the end of the recent mini auction in Abu Dhabi, Punjab Kings (PBKS) raised their padel for a certain Vishal Nishad. The Kings were the only franchise that wanted Nishad and they got him for a base price of Rs 30 lakh. With this signing, PBKS completed their squad of 25 players.

At that point, nobody knew who Nishad was and why PBKS had taken a punt on this totally unknown commodity. He might have been in the radar of a few scouts but the Punjab franchise were the only one that trusted him.

Humare den mein aapka swagat hain, Vishal bhai! 🦁♥️#IPL2026Auction pic.twitter.com/UvNTNeOaIG

— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) December 16, 2025

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The franchise soon posted a video of Nishad expressing gratitude towards the team for signing him. What should have been a routine welcome video that franchises post after buying a player soon turned into an ugly space with trolls deriding Nishad’s looks in the clip.

Social media has helped some of these young cricketers become talked-about names thanks to the clips of their batting or bowling going viral but the same place can also turn into a troll factory as we saw in the case of Nishad.

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welcome to the family brother ❤️ Proud of you chak de 🫂 https://t.co/gK7e9hNfg7

— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) December 18, 2025

Amid trolling on social media for his looks, a lot of fans also came out in support of Nishad. In fact, India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who will be a teammate of Nishad in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) also posted on social media to welcome him. BJP MP from Gorakhpur Ravi Kishan also posted Nishad’s story of struggle.

*राजमिस्त्री का बेटा खेलेगा आईपीएल*

*पंजाब किंग्स ने विशाल निषाद को 30 लाख में खरीदा, संघर्ष से सफलता तक की प्रेरक कहानी*

गोरखपुर।गोरखपुर के लिए यह गर्व का क्षण है। एक साधारण परिवार से निकलकर गोरखपुर के युवा क्रिकेटर विशाल निषाद ने इंडियन प्रीमियर लीग (IPL) में जगह बनाकर… pic.twitter.com/wBenFUyg0a

— Ravi Kishan (@ravikishann) December 17, 2025

Who is Vishal Nishad?

A 21-year-old off-spinner, Nishad hails from Gorakhpur and comes from a very humble background. His father, Umesh Nishad, is a mason and Vishal himself used to work as labourer with him.

READ | PBKS IPL Auction 2026: Punjab Kings full squad after auction and complete players list

However, a fortunate turn of events brought Nishad to the biggest cricket league in the world. Nishad was spotted by his coach Kalyan Singh while he was playing with tennis ball. Kalyan then convinced Nishad’s parents to let him focus on cricket.

Soon, Nishad broke into Gorakhpur’s side in the UPT20 League in 2024. He played only 4 matches in his first season but impressed with 8 wickets. In the second season, he played five matches and picked up five wickets.

He bowls off-spin and carrom ball to bamboozle batters, and his coach believes that Nishad could turn into a Varun Chakravarthy with proper guidance.