6 words, one hashtag – that’s all it took for Babar Azam to create a giant storm, to stir up an uproar in the media, to stun the fans across the two neighbouring countries and get the fans worldwide talking.
This was no ordinary tweet from the captain of the Pakistan cricket team. It wasn’t a congratulatory or a birthday wish or a praiseful message for the superstar cricketer of India, Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli and Babar Azam have gotten close since last year
Babar Azam, in his full consciousness, lent out support and strength to Kohli who is struggling to find a batting form, who is in a rut that a section of fans and experts are demanding his ouster from the team and doubting whether he makes into India’s best eleven.
“This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli,” wrote Babar in a tweet which went viral across the internet within minutes. This tweet has garnered more than 190,000 likes – quite easily the most on any of his tweets; to think – if you look on his previous to this tweet, in which he’s showing his world-renowned elegance and high batting class from a practice game in Colombo, has only 28,000 likes.
This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/ozr7BFFgXt
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) July 14, 2022
The tweet came after Kohli fell for 16 runs in the ODI at Lord’s against England, another cheap score as his horrific England tour is coming to a close.
So why did Babar do it?
Babar is in Sri Lanka currently where Pakistan will take on the hosts in two Tests matches starting Saturday in Galle.
So obviously, in the pre-match press conference in Galle, the Pakistani skipper was asked about his tweet on Kohli and his thoughts on the Indian star’s form.
“As a player myself, I know you can go through such a phase (out of form) and I also know what a player goes through in such a phase. In those times, you need support. I just tweeted thinking that it will give just some support. He is one of the best players,” Babar Azam explained.
The Pakistani captain, who himself is one of the best and on his way to greatness, backed Kohli – who is an all-time great already irrespective of whether he comes out of this slump or not – to find his way out of this rut.
“He is playing a lot of cricket and he knows how to come out of these situations. It takes time, if you back players, it will be really good,” he added.
