Pakistan captain Babar Azam has voiced support for India’s struggling ex-captain Virat Kohli whose loss of form has resulted in questions about his place in the Indian national team. He was the notable omission from India’s 18-man T20 squad announced a day earlier for the trip to West Indies.

“This too shall pass. Stay strong,” wrote Babar in a tweet, sharing a picture of him and Virat from the T20 World Cup 2021.

India’s former captain, among the leading batters in limited over cricket over the last decade, has endured a lean run of form across formats and is without a century in international cricket since November 2019.

India announced it’s squad for T20 series against West Indies on Thursday, missing out Virat’s names along with Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal rested for the same tour.

Kohli, currently with the ODI squad in England, missed Tuesday’s series opener with a groin injury. He was out for 16 in the second match, which India lost by 100 runs at Lord’s.

According to International Cricket Council (ICC), the former Indian captain has now played 77 consecutive international innings without hitting three figures, after scores of 1 and 11 in the T20I series and failures in the rescheduled fifth Test.

Kohli’s performance has been criticized by fans and analysts, with the T20 World Cup just around the corner and World Test Championship points required to keep up in the race for next year’s final.

Hero

Everyone is lauding the Pakistani skipper for his sportsmen spirit and understanding the challenges of maintaining world class form.

Babar is currently top of the list in the ICC batting rankings for both ODI and T20Is, and fourth in Test cricket.

“Babar you are a hero.”

Azam’s fan say they are “supporting both the kings.”

Babar’s tweet is making fans feel proud and emotional.

One fan wrote, “You have one 130+ crore hearts today.”

“Probably Tweet of the decade for Cricket fans.”

“Divide by borders, United by cricket.”