Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has shared his thoughts on current skipper Babar Azam extending support to Virat Kohli, who is enduring a prolonged slump despite being among one of the finest in world cricket. Kohli has been under fire for his extended lean patch, having not scored an international ton since 2019. The star India batter has been rested for the upcoming One-day International and Twenty20 series in West Indies.
Kohli, 33, has managed to score only 158 runs from seven ODI games so far this year with only two fifties to his name. Amid growing calls for his ouster from the Twenty20 set-up, Babar backed Kohli and tweeted, “This too shall pass. Stay strong.” Babar’s support for Kohli came after he fell for 16 off 25 deliveries on Thursday. India faced a 100-run drubbing in the 2nd ODI against hosts England.
Afridi lauded Babar’s gesture and said a response from Kohli would have been great as the sport improves ties between the arch-rivals. “Be it cricket or any other sport, it improves relations (between countries). Athletes can do a much better job at it than politicians and a number of them are doing the same,” Afridi told SAMAA TV.
“Babar has given across an incredible message. I don’t know if there has been a response from the other side. I think Virat should have responded by now. It would be a very big thing if there is a response to Babar’s tweet, but I don’t think that is going to happen,” he added.
Despite mediocre outings, Kohli remains third on the ICC ODI rankings behind Pakistan’s Babar and Imam ul Haq. While Kohli got off to a good start in the 2nd ODI, he fell to a David Wiley delivery that was pitched outside the off-stump.
When Babar was asked about Kohli in a media interaction following his late-night tweet, he said, “I just feel that in the present situation Kohli needs support and to be backed. I tweeted wishing him the best because I know how a player feels when he is going through this period and he needs the support of everyone.”
Apart from Babar, India skipper Rohit Sharma also backed his predecessor, saying a player of Kohli’s calibre needs just a couple of innings to rediscover his lost mojo.
“For someone who has won so many matches for India, you need one or two innings to bounce back. That’s what I feel and I am sure all those who follow cricket will think similarly,” Rohit said at the post-match press conference on Thursday.
“He has played so many matches, over such a long period of time. He is such a great batter,” he added.
Kohli also received backing from England captain Jos Buttler, who said the Indian is “human” and can have a dip in form before getting back in the groove. “I suppose in a little way it is quite refreshing for the rest of us that he (Kohli) is human and he can have a couple of low scores as well, but look he has been one of the best players, if not the best in ODI cricket in the world,” Buttler said.