Star India batter Virat Kohli was going through a really bad phase in 2022 and struggling to find his form. The former India captain even failed to impress in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and his poor run further continued in the international arena as well.
Later that year, India toured England to play a white-ball series and a rescheduled Test from 2021. But Virat yet again failed to perform with the bat and couldn’t regain his flow, which resulted in him facing a huge backlash from fans and cricket pundits.
During the England tour of India, Pakistan all-format captain Babar Azam took to Twitter and posted in support of Virat, which soon went viral on the internet. Contrary to Virat, Babar was in the form of his life at that time, and was scoring runs across formats.
“This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli,” tweeted Babar on July 14.
This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/ozr7BFFgXt
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) July 14, 2022
Virat acknowledged Babar’s tweet and replied: “Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best.”
Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best 👏
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 16, 2022
Now after almost six months, in an interview with ICC Digital Insider, Babar revealed the motivation behind his tweet for Virat. The 28-year-old said that his post was to boost fellow athletes’ confidence and help him.
“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,” said Babar
“It is in difficult times that you get to know what you are thinking about others. At that time, I thought I should have done that, and maybe something positive would come out of it. Something that can be a plus point,” he added.
Notably, Virat made a superb comeback in the second half of 2022 and is still in magnificent form. So far, at the start of 2023, he has already slammed two centuries in the ODI format and is currently part of the Test series against Australia.
