“Chahal used to do all that” - Former India batter’s blunt warning to Arshdeep Singh after pacer’s struggles in IND vs SA 2025 2nd T20I

Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has issued a blunt warning to pacer Arshdeep Singh over his social media activity. Kaif’s comments came after the second T20I against South Africa, played on December 11 in Mullanpur, which India lost by 51 runs.

Arshdeep had a difficult outing, conceding 54 runs in his four-over spell and bowling seven wides in a single over. During a discussion on his YouTube live session on Friday, December 12, Kaif suggested that the BCCI should step in and ensure players focus fully on the game instead of creating social media content, saying:

“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.”

The 45-year-old further added that leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was someone who used to be active on such platforms, which he felt contributed to his downfall. Kaif urged Arshdeep to focus on his game for now, noting that there will be time later for social media activity. He said:

“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 added.

As of December 13, Arshdeep Singh has 312K subscribers on his YouTube channel, 4.7M followers on Instagram, and 937K followers on Snapchat.

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“You are not a bowler who relies on hitting the deck” - Mohammad Kaif addresses Arshdeep Singh’s struggles in 2nd T20I

In the same interaction, Mohammad Kaif noted that during the second T20I, there wasn’t much swing early in the game when India was bowling. He added that Arshdeep Singh was a bit quick to change his plans instead of focusing on his strength: swinging the ball. Kaif said:

“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.”

“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,” he added.

The left-arm seamer has featured in 70 T20Is, claiming 107 wickets, with best bowling figures of 4/9.