A clip of Hardik Pandya and Ruturaj Gaikwad has gone viral on the internet following the Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings clash in the IPL 2026 match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. The video, that has gone viral across X, appears to suggest Pandya refusing a handshake with Gaikwad. Netizens have slammed Pandya for being 'arrogant' and 'disrespectful.' Social media erupted after the video went viral. The netizens have rushed to judgement and started slamming Pandya without watching the whole clip. In the clip, Pandya walks away without shaking hands with Gaikwad which makes him appear 'arrogant' and 'disrespectful' to the eyes of the social media community. The situation has been slammed for appearing disrespectful and the claims have quickly snowballed and were top of the charts within hours. The claim began trending with many joining in on the wave of criticism that was coming the way of Pandya for his actions during the post-match formalities. What the Viral Clip Showed Just look at the arrogance of Hardik Pandya. After the match yesterday, he walked off without even shaking hands with Ruturaj Gaikwad, and look at his attitude while passing by.Basic values seem missing, forget sportsmanship. It’s pure disrespect and totally unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/bA7lzKayT6 — PitchTalks (@ThePitchTalks) May 3, 2026 The clip of Pandya that has gone viral, shows the player walking past a few members of the group after which he moves away. It is the short clip of him walking past Gaikwad and walking away from the group of teammates that has caused him all the flak from his fans. This gave the netizens the impression that the two did not exchange a handshake at all. His reaction garnered a huge amount of backlash, and he was slammed for being 'arrogant' and 'disrespectful.' The situation is reminiscent of many similar occurrences during major sporting events and shows how quick netizens can be to judge without seeing a whole picture. Also Read | Faf du Plessis explains IPL’s impact on the game, picks his title favourite The Full Footage Tells a Different Story An unorthodox finishing touch to a classic rivalry! 🎬🎥 @ChennaiIPL complete the double over their arch-rivals #MI in style 💛Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/VVAjldiiC0#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #CSKvMI | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/yeBWsXZ6Lu — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 2, 2026 As it turned out when the full match footage was scrutinized, the story was actually quite different. Videos uploaded by official IPL broadcaster unmistakably captured Hardik Pandya greeting and shaking hands with Ruturaj Gaikwad as part of the post-match customary greetings. It was clear that the hand shake moment was not caught in the viral video, thus raising suspicions of malice and thus being misleading to the fullest extent and having a completely baseless and misleading claim attributed. The context is clear and hence this situation is a testament to the kind of damage that can be done by sharing isolated bits and pieces of video without proper context and verification. With that aside, Chennai Super Kings continued their winning streak as they won the match convincingly by 8 wickets and progressed further in IPL 2026. With the on field outcome clear, it seems the off field episode also was as clear on thorough verification and hence showed how social media can become an enemy in many situations due to misdirected intent and not properly verified facts.