‘Freshen up’, Ricky Ponting SUGGESTS Babar Azam to learn THIS from Virat Kohli

New Delhi: Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been struggling with form and was recently dropped from the Test squad. Amidst the flood of advice he’s receiving, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting offered a notable suggestion: he believes Babar should consider taking a break. Ponting pointed to former India captain Virat Kohli as an example, emphasizing how a brief hiatus could help Babar regain his best form.

“The biggest challenge is how they get Babar back into their side. They’ve got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their [Test] team,” Ponting said in the ICC Review.

“You know, when you look at (Babar’s) numbers, it’s been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat [Kohli] earlier on. Sometimes – and I think Virat was on record saying this – that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out,” the former Australian skipper added.

Like Babar Azam, Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli faced intense criticism during a rough patch in his career. Ahead of the 2022 Asia Cup, Kohli took a month-long break, which proved to be a turning point. Upon his return, he ended a 1000-day century drought, marking a remarkable resurgence.

Kohli later reflected on the period, sharing, “I was experiencing that I’m not excited to train; I wasn’t excited to practice, and that really disturbed me because this is not who I am.”

With his extensive experience playing on Australian pitches, Kohli is expected to be India’s key player when they face the hosts in the upcoming five-match Test series.