‘This too shall pass’: Pakistan skipper Babar Azam breaks silence on viral message for Virat Kohli
15th February 2023 (New Delhi): Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are regarded as the finest hitters of the current era, and the two have a good on-field rivalry. Babar is now the top-ranked batter in the 50-over format, as well as third in both Tests and T20Is. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, is significantly lower down the pecking order, owing to a rare dry spell in his illustrious cricket career.
Despite putting in the hard yards during India’s tour of England last year, Kohli struggled to get among the runs. Meanwhile, Babar was scoring runs in all three formats all around the world at the time.
“This too shall pass. Stay strong,” Babar had then shared a photo of him and Kohli, which quickly became a meme fest.
The former India skipper had also acknowledged Babar’s support on Twitter. “Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best,” wrote Kohli.
In a recent interview with ICC Digital Insider Zainab Abbas, Pakistan skipper discussed the viral tweet. Babar stated that the tweet was sent in good spirits and with mutual empathy for Kohli, with whom he wishes to continue their on-field rivalry.
As a sportsperson, anyone can go through such a time. At that time I thought maybe if I tweet it might give someone help and confidence. See, as a player, you try to back every sportsman in a difficult time. It is in difficult times when you get to know what you are thinking about others. At that time, I thought I should have done that and maybe something positive will come out of it. Something which can be a plus point,” Babar told ICC Digital.
Kohli was on the England tour at the time, and he hadn’t scored a century in any format in over 1000 days. Kohli’s most recent century came against Bangladesh in 2019. However, he had a hiatus following the England tour before rediscovering his form at the Asia Cup 2023, when he hammered a century against Afghanistan – his only in T20Is so far.
Since then, Kohli has scored three ODI hundreds and struck a match-winning 82 against Babar Azam’s Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Melbourne.