- Friday, May 02, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
India and Pakistan might be fierce competitors on the ground but off it, their players share a deep rapport. Former India captain Virat Kohli and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, for example, are known for their close bonding and whenever the two meet ahead of clashes between the big two teams, it steals the headlines in a flash.
The duo’s conversation after Pakistan hammered India by 10 wickets in last year’s T20 World Cup in Dubai is still alive in the memory of the lenses that captured them. Kohli and Azam met again recently at the same venue ahead of the India-Pakistan clash in Asia Cup 2022 that kicked off on Saturday (27).
On the eve of the game, Kohli spoke about his small talk with Azam, who has backed the former when he is struggling with form, and called the Pakistan captain “one of the top batters in the world across formats”.
Speaking to Star Sports, Kohli talked about his rapport with the Pakistani batter, starting from their first meeting during the 2019 World Cup in England and praised him for staying grounded despite the big success that he has tasted of late.
“The first interaction I had with him was in the 2019 World Cup after the game in Manchester. Him and Imad. I knew Imad from U-19 days because him I’ve played against. Imad said Babar wanted to have a chat and so we sat down and spoke about the game. I saw a lot of regard and respect from him from Day 1 and it hasn’t changed regardless of the fact that he is now one of the top batsmen in the world right now across formats and has been performing so consistently. And rightly so,” Kohli said.
Azam, who is in fine form at the moment and recently bettered Kohli’s record to become the quickest batter from Asia to complete 10,000 runs in international cricket, is the only batter at the moment to feature in the top three of International Cricket Council rankings across formats.
“He has amazing talent and I’ve enjoyed watching him play. It hasn’t changed because he is performing well and I don’t see his attitude and approach changing towards me which is a very good sign of someone who is very grounded to the foundation of his upbringing.
These kinds of players and characters go a long way and inspire a lot of people. I congratulated him yesterday for how he has been playing and he deserves all of this. Eventually you need to have players like him to keep world cricket exciting and that is the reality of the situation,” Kohli said.
