Babar Azam sympathises with out-of-form Virat Kohli, tweets THIS in support

Former India captain Virat Kohli’s poor run of form continued as he returned from groin strain in the second ODI against England at Lord’s on Thursday (July 14). Kohli was dismissed for 16 off 25 balls as Team India were bundled out for 146 to lose the second ODI by 100 runs.

Kohli got off to an impressive start in the second ODI at Lord’s before edging a catch through to the keeper off the bowling of David Willey to continued a prolonged slump in form. The Indian batter has not scored a century in international cricket for over three years now – the lost one coming in a Test match against Bangladesh back in 2019.

While a few former India cricketers reckon Kohli should take a break, Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who is often compared with Kohli, had a special message for him. Babar took to Twitter soon after Kohli’s dismissal at Lord’s and wrote: “This too shall pass. Stay strong.”

This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/ozr7BFFgXt — Babar Azam (@babarazam258) July 14, 2022

Babar has replaced Kohli as the No. 1 batter in all formats of the game, scoring consistently in Tests, ODIs and T20 cricket. The photo shared in the tweet was from the T20 World Cup 2021 clash between India and Pakistan which the latter won by 10 wickets.

Kohli, meanwhile, has only managed 158 runs from 7 ODIs in 2022 at an average of just 22.57 with only two half-centuries to his name. Overall Kohli has scored 12,327 runs from 261 ODIs at an average of 57.87 with 43 hundreds and 64 fifties. Babar Azam, on the other hand, averages 59.22 in ODIs with 4,442 runs to his name from 89 ODIs with 17 hundreds and 19 fifties.

The former India captain will have one final opportunity to get back into form when India face England in the third and final ODI on Sunday (July 17) since he has been rested for the ODI and T20 series against West Indies.