Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam has not been in the best of touch and was hence dropped from the Test side. While he has been getting advise from all quarters, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has a suggestion for the Pakistani batting maestro. As per Ponting, Babar should take a break. Ponting cited the example of former India captain Virat Kohli . 

“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.

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‘Freshen up and sort out some things’

“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.

Kohli Turns it Around

The Indian batting maestro was going through a rough patch and was facing criticism from all quarters as well, similar to what Babar is going through. But then, just ahead of the 2022 Asia Cup, Kohli took a month-long break. After the break, Kohli brought an end to the century drought after 1000 days.

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He’d later described it, saying, “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.” 

Given his experience of playing in Australian pitches, Kohli will be India’s main man when they take on the hosts in the five-match Test series.