Scout Sheds Light on Punkk’s Cryptic Instagram Story

Professional Battleground Mobile India (BGMI) player Tanmay “Scout” Singh recently explained the story behind Team XO’s Ashutosh “Punkk” Singh’s Instagram story which he posted after winning the Snapdragon Pro Series (SPS) New State Mobile Open India. According to Scout, BGMI players who were participating in the tournament were reportedly taunted by New State Mobile players. Scout claimed that Punkk’s Instagram story was a response to those players who were disrespectful at the LAN. Scout lastly stated that the players who taunted BGMI players lack respect. Fans should note that Punkk originally entered the Indian esports scene as a BGMI pro player.

Scout clarifies Punkk did not target S8UL Esports or GodLike Esports

ESL India and NODWIN Gaming concluded the Snapdragon Pro Series New State Mobile Open India on 29th January, which was a LAN tournament with a humongous prize pool of ₹1,00,000 INR ($123,000 USD). Team XO emerged as the champion of the tournament. In twelve matches, the team won two Winner Winner Chicken Dinners (WWCD) and secured 96 points with 65 finishes. As the champion, Team XO took home the lion’s share of ₹21,00,000. Notably, Team XO fielded its BGMI roster for New State Mobile. Despite primarily being a BGMI team, Team XO did not fall short at any stage of the tournament. 

Following the conclusion of the tournament, Punkk posted a story on his Instagram account, which read, “Raja ban ne ke liye zubaan nahi performance chahiye. Tayari khelne ki karwao, bajne ki nahi." This roughly translates to “To be a king, you need to perform, not bluff. Prepare players for playing, not trash-talking.” Punkk did not clarify at whom this story was directed at. However, fans misinterpreted and assumed that he was talking about S8UL Esports or GodLike Esports.

In a recent livestream, a viewer asked Scout about the cryptic Instagram story posted by Punkk. In response, Scout explained, “It happened off-camera. The things that happen on the stage are a kind of banter created for masala. And the audience enjoys it. The next day, those two players would have food together. So don’t take anything that happens on-screen seriously. What happens off-camera is serious.”

Scout revealed that the BGMI players who went to play the Snapdragon Pro Series New State Mobile Open India were taunted by New State Mobile pro players. The taunts included statements like “Why did they come here?” and “They won’t be able to do anything.”

Scout added, “We knew our players had practiced hard, Team XO and other BGMI players. So a few New State Mobile players used to discuss that they shouldn’t let them (BGMI players) qualify. I don’t want to name them.”

Following this, Scout clarified that neither GodLike Esports nor S8UL Esports was involved in this. Scout claimed that, in response to these taunts, Punkk asked them to first win the tournament before commenting. 

Scout acknowledged that even though he is inactive in BGMI, players like Darklord, Vaibhav “Humanoid” Kashyap, Syed, Sarangajyoti “Sarang” Deka, Ritesh “Fierce” Nawandar, Shubham “NinjaJOD” Ranjan Sahoo, Yash “Mogambo” Kalakoti, and Daksh, still respect him despite being better than him. He added that these players have never disrespected him and have shown him nothing but genuine respect. Scout believed this respect stems from the fact that he was once a mentor to these players, and it is a trait that is not present in new players. He noted that his former teammate Ammar “Destro” Khan still respects him the same. 

Scout concluded by saying that the New State Mobile players who taunted the BGMI players lacked this kind of respect.