India great Virat Kohli was asked to come forward and motivate Pakistan stalwart Babar Azam during the tough phase. Babar took a stand for Kohli when he was subjected to heavy criticism following a lean run between 2019 and 2022 and a Pakistan journo wants Virat to return the favour to Babar Azam.

Virat Kohli Asked To Return Favour For Babar Azam’s ‘This Too Shall Pass’ Tweet Amidst Brutal Criticism (Source: ICC/X)

Babar Azam is going through a massive slump in international cricket. Babar was Pakistan’s best batter and led them to many great wins across formats, however, he seems to have run out of luck. He was expected to do well in the Test series against Bangladesh but failed to go past the fifty-run mark. Babar now has not scored a half-century for Pakistan in Test matches for over 600 days.

It’s not like Babar is only struggling in Test cricket because he has been a total letdown in white-ball cricket too. He didn’t have a great ODI World Cup last year and failed to make any significant contribution in the T20 World Cup 2024 which saw Pakistan get knocked out from the group stage after suffering defeats to USA and India. Babar has been subjected to heavy criticism and questions are now being raised on his place in the Pakistan side.

India great Virat Kohli also went through a similar lean patch between 2019 to 2022 where he failed to score a century. Questions were raised on Virat’s place in the team too and this is when Babar Azam came out in support of Kohli. ‘This too shall Pass,’ Babar had tweeted.

The tweet brought some luck to Kohli as he broke the jinx and scored a century in the Asia Cup 2022. Kohli then ended up being the leading run scorer in the T20 World Cup 2022 and the ODI World Cup 2023. He was the cornerstone of India’s win in the T20 World Cup 2024 after he scored a match-winning half-century in the final against South Africa.

Given Babar’s lean run, a Pakistan journalist, Arfa Feroz, has requested Virat Kohli to support Babar Azam. Arfa said Virat is senior to Babar and has a social responsibility to come forward and motivate the struggling Pakistan stalwart.

“Virat Kohli is a senior of Babar Azam in the international cricket. Virat has a social responsibility to step forward and motivate his juniors during bad patches in their careers. We do expect Virat will stand for Babar likewise Babar did for Virat,” he wrote on X.