- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
HE is often compared with his senior fellow cricketer from India. A few days ago, Pakistan captain Babar Azam even went on to break former India captain Virat Kohli’s record of staying at the top of world batters in T20 cricket for the longest period of time. And now, the 27-year-old ace batter has backed the out-of-form Indian who has been going through a prolonged dull phase in batting.
On Thursday (14), Kohli returned to India’s playing XI in the second one-day international (ODI) match against England at Lord’s but could manage only 16 runs off 25 balls when the team needed him the most to score after losing captain Rohit Sharma early. India ended up losing the game by 100 runs to allow the hosts to level the series.
ALSO READ: Die-hard Virat Kohli fan feeds the hungry while praying for batter’s 71st international hundred
While critics have strengthened their voices demanding Kohli’s exclusion from the national side, Azam has thrown his weight behind the former saying this phase would pass and asked him to stay strong.
He has to find a way out himself, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly says about Virat Kohli
“This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli,” Azam tweeted.
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) July 14, 2022
Kohli was once looked busy hunting for the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s crown of scoring the most number of international hundreds (100). But after racing to 70, he has taken ages and yet hasn’t found the 71st. He has shown glimpses of his class during his short stays at the wicket of late but has not succeeded in extending the duration.
At Lord’s, England left-arm seamer David Willey angled one on the off-stump and Kohli misjudged the length while going on the front foot. As a result, he nicked the ball which was caught by captain and wicket-keeper Jos Buttler behind the stumps.
