IPL franchise Punjab Kings landed in trouble when they got engaged in a social media controversy with their comments for India men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh. PBKS started the season by calling their captain Shreyas Iyer with the nickname 'Sarpanch'. Meanwhile, famous commentator Sunil Taneja has been using the nickname 'Sarpanch' for Harmanpreet since he took over captaincy of India. This made fans accuse PBKS social media team of plagiarism. In response, PBKS admin shared a post with the caption ‘Aap apna sarpanch rakhiye hum humara rakh lete hai’ (You keep your sarpanch, let us keep ours). Fans were irked by them dissociating with the Indian Hockey captain who is also a Punjab local and called PBKS out on social media. IPL 2025: Punjab Kings Pacer Kuldeep Sen Backs Shreyas Iyer As Strong Captaincy Contender for India Cricket Team, Says ‘He Is a Calm Leader Who Empowers Bowlers’. Crass Attitude Crass attitude by a mere club-level team handle Chill maar Hockey fans 😊How will @PunjabKingsIPL know the significance of an OLY MEDAL if they can't even win a club-level trophy? 😏 🇮🇳 >>>>>>> IPL Let's continue celebrating OUR 🇮🇳 SARPANCH without engaging with these amateurs https://t.co/j3FlhxZqhl — Harini Raman (@ASimpleStardust) March 30, 2025 'Bewakoof Insaan' Cricket and Hockey are almost equally followed in Punjab and the official handle of PBKS is not just demeaning the sport which has given us 13 medals at the Olympics but also discrediting the person who has been pivotal in the resurrection of Indian Hockey! Bewakoof insaan! 😠 https://t.co/dnijGkzn8Z — Vishank Razdan (@VishankRazdan) March 29, 2025 Audacity They have the audacity to say this about the legend of that state. When you give a nickname to someone, it should be unique to that person—you don’t start calling every third person by that name. https://t.co/VHfnQN8TLY — Bleed Blue (@CricCrazyVeena) March 30, 2025 'Aap Apni IPL Trophy Bhi Rakhlo' Aap apni IPL trophy bhi rakhlo kahi pe. https://t.co/xk0zHVAHXh — Abhishek Mishra (@mishraABH1SHEK) March 29, 2025 Moronic Disassociating from a national captain who is actually from the state. This is so disrespectful and moronic! https://t.co/tqt44fBhC5 — Ritwika Dhar (@RituD307) March 29, 2025 Dumb Franchise Dumb Franchise @PunjabKingsIPL Don't Forget That harmanpreet is also Son of the state which you are representing in League !! Also We didn't demean Shreyas in any of our posts , I also respect him as player & captain & indeed he is my favourite Indian captain . https://t.co/LswsE6KozR — Navin mittal (@NavinMittal06) March 29, 2025 'Who Approved This' Wow. Who approved this? https://t.co/MW82UYgedX — Lavanya 🎙️🎥👩🏻‍💻 (@lav_narayanan) March 30, 2025