Former India batter turned analyst Mohammad Kaif has opened up on pacer Arshdeep Singh over his social media activity. Kaif said after the second T20I against South Africa, played on December 11 in Mullanpur, which India lost by 51 runs as well.

During a discussion on his YouTube live session on Friday, December 12, Kaif said, “Look, I want to say one more thing. All these social media moments you see, like taking a video with Virat Kohli… in my opinion, as long as you are playing cricket, even the BCCI should be involved and tell players to stay fully focused on the game. When you are playing as a player, you should stay away from these social media bytes, photos, and such things.”

“I will give an example: Chahal used to do all that. After that, his downfall began, you know this. Before that, he was ahead of Kuldeep and ahead of every bowler. But as soon as the focus shifted a bit towards social media, towards views and all that, while being an active player, things changed. This is my request to Arshdeep Singh. He is a very strong bowler, but now people have started telling him things like ‘you are very famous on Instagram.’ But this is not the time to be famous on Instagram. That time has not come yet. Right now, the full focus should be on bowling. You need to become famous on the World Cup stage, on the cricket field,” he further added.

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However, Mohammad Kaif added that during the second T20I, there wasn’t much swing early in the match while India was bowling as well. He also added that Arshdeep Singh was quick to change his plans instead of focusing on his strength as well.

“He is such a good bowler. I feel Arshdeep has been bowling even better than Bumrah at times, the way his ball is shaping and the way he uses his mind. But in yesterday’s match, in that first over, the ball wasn’t swinging much. I can understand that Cuttack pitch, it was a bit dry, so there wasn’t a lot of swing early on. I am talking about the first innings. Later, when the South Africa bowlers came on, there was some swing because of the drop in temperature and a bit of dew,” he claimed.

“I am talking specifically about Arshdeep Singh. When he bowled with the new ball, he pitched one full and conceded runs. He realized the ball wasn’t swinging, so he shortened his length. De Kock loves that length to play on the leg side. When Arshdeep Singh saw there was less swing, he quickly switched to his backup plan: the ball isn’t swinging, so I will just hit it into the pitch. You are not a bowler who relies on hitting the deck; you are a swing bowler. Even if you concede a boundary, you must keep trying the same approach,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.